Hall of the Essence
by Whoosh918
Summary: Harry has a twin sister? Emotions and strange silver goop run amuck as Draco Malfoy learns that pride isn't everything, and just maybe he has a heart, too. And Professor Snape can laugh?
1. Jewel of a Sister

Intro

"Don't be shy, my darling," coaxed a deep voice, rich and soothing. A hooded figure, the owner of the voice, lead a young girl by the hand into a long hallway with a dim, small chamber at the end.

The girl, who seemed half in a trance, only nodded and muttered, "yes, my lord." Had the girl been more awake, she might have been half frightened of where she was. The hallway walls were musty and made of old stones. Between the stones it seemed like there were bones! There was only one source of light, torches lined up against the wall, and they hardly lit the way.

"Sit," the voice commanded. Immediately the girl sat down on the bed, which the figure (probably a he) led her to. It hardly even qualified as a bed, for it was hard, brown, partially wooden, and surrounded by odd basins.

The man snapped his fingers and instantly, the girl began unbuttoning her shirt. It fell from her weak shoulders (don't fret, she has a bra on ^_^). Again, he snapped his fingers and she lay back on the bed, an odd mist appearing from the basins. The mist took her arms and spread them out. Then the mist became ropelike, tying her hands and body down.

The man bent down and kissed the girl. Suddenly he lift back his hood and hissed, revealing fang like teeth. He bore down on the girl just between her neck and her shoulder, where a reddish mark lay. There was an ear-shattering scream, but the man paid no attention. When he finished, he lifted his head and wiped his mouth.

"Once again, too easy," muttered the seducer, leaving a corpse on the bed.

1. A Jewel of a Sister

"And in international news today, another girl has gone missing, number seven on the list," said a voice from the TV in King's Cross Station in London. Harry Potter shook his head sadly. He looked at his watch. It was 10:37 AM. Luckily, he had just enough time to get through the barrier and look for his friends. He looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then ran at the barrier. Easily he slipped through the wall unnoticed into Platform 9 ¾.

He quickly scanned the station for his friends. The scarlet train, luckily, was not leaving for another good 20 minutes, so he had time to search. In fact, almost immediately he spotted a flaming red head. And since there wasn't a pair of them, he assumed it was just Ron Weasley, and not the Weasley twins. Harry called out to him, but he wasn't paying attention. In fact he was talking to someone else with short black hair. Quickly, he ran over to see what was going on.

"Ron!" he cried out when he finally made it through the crowds.

"Not now, Harry," Ron shushed, "I'm busy defending you against Malfoy who just ran into with a cart and then dart"- Ron looked from Harry to the other. "If you are right here, then who is that?"

The look-alike turned to the two boys. This person too had raven black hair, but it was about an inch longer, and the bangs were long, dark red tresses. Also, upon the look-alike's forehead there was no scar. Next the person lifted up a pair of sunglasses to reveal a pair of emerald-green eyes. Then in a feminine voice, the person said, "Harry?"

"Amethyst!" Harry cried. He picked up the girl and swung her around.

"Harry, you never told me you had a girlfriend!" Ron interrupted indignantly.

"Well…" Harry began, smiling widely.

"So the Pot-Addict has a girlfriend…" Malfoy muttered to himself, pushing his cart away. He pushed back his blond hair from his eyes. "Pity, I almost thought that she was pretty, but she must be some loser Gryffindor." He quickly pushed his cart onward, but threw a quick look over his shoulder.

"And so that's what happened," Harry finished, "Now where's Hermione? I want to introduce her to Amy as well!"

"She's on the train, looking for an empty compartment," answered Ron. "Let's go find her!"

The three clambered onto the train to search for the final friend in the trio, Hermione Granger. They soon found her reading a textbook in an empty compartment. As Harry entered the train, she flashed a glance up and smiled, "Hello, Harry." Ron entered next, but she just smiled. Then Amy entered. Hermione just smiled again and repeated, "Hello, Harry," and then returned to the book. Suddenly her eyes snapped up again. She looked from Harry to Amethyst with a bemused face. Soon, however, she spotted distinct differences between the two. "Harry, you never told us you had a girlfriend!"

Harry laughed, "It's because I don't. Hermione, I want you to meet my twin sister, Amethyst Labadie from America. She's a foreign exchange student to Hogwarts this year."

"You have a sister?" Hermione cried out in shock. "Since when?"

"Since my adoptive parents decided to tell me that I was adopted from a family in England. Not just any family either, the POTTER family," Amethyst explained. 

"I don't understand, if you were adopted, why wasn't Harry?" asked Ron.

Amy looked at her watch. "It's a complicated story. The train leaves in about five minutes, why don't I explain it to you then… I need to get my trunk onto the train, but I'll be back in just a second." She left the compartment.

Draco Malfoy was busy trying to get his trunk onto the train. "Bloody stupid house elves have to listen to my father when he tells them to pack my things," he muttered angrily. Suddenly the pack became increasingly light. He turned around and saw that someone was helping him.

"My goodness, what do you have packed in here, a dead body?" asked Amy, pushing with all her might.

"It might as well be two," Malfoy answered in frustration. When they managed to shove the trunk into the car he turned to her to give his thanks to some extent he froze. He stared at her. "Potter?" he gaped.

Amy rolled her eyes. "I hope I don't get this all school year," she sighed. She put out a hand. "Actually, no, I'm Amethyst Labadie, but I"-

"Amy!" Harry called out. "Hurry, we are leaving soon!"

Malfoy looked back at the girl. Now he recognized her. She was the girl he accidentally ran into with his car, and Harry's girlfriend. "Amy?" he asked. "Amethyst is far too pretty of a name to waste away simply on 'Amy'," he smiled.

Amethyst slightly blushed. "Um… I really have to get back," she said, lifting her trunk and placing it in the car. "I'm sorry we couldn't talk some more…" she searched for a name.

"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy," Malfoy answered slightly bitterly.

Amy nodded, shaking his hand. "Well, I'll see you later then." She walked back to her compartment. "Do you know a Draco Malfoy?" she asked when she returned.

All three stopped everything they were doing and turned to her. "Malfoy? You mean that stupid git?" asked Ron.

"Yeah, we know him. I would stay away from him if I were you," said Harry. "He's been nothing but trouble for us since our first year."

"Has he?" she said quietly, remembering his small smile. "So who's up for the incredibly long story?" she asked aloud. Everyone was ready. "When Harry and I were born, out mother's roommate too was going into labor, a woman by the name of Labadie. Oddly enough, they went into labor at the same time and ended up having to share the same operation room.

"During the operation, however, there was this incredibly bad thunderstorm, which repeatedly caused the lights in the operation room to go out. As luck would have it, I was born when one of the blackouts happened. As I came out I can only assume that Labadie's child had just been born and the nurse holding that child came to check up on our mother. That's when the accidental switch was pulled. The Labadie child was left with the Potters and I was taken to Labadie.

"Unfortunately, the Labadie's real child had been a still birth, but since at the moment it was in the Potter's care, everyone thought Lily Potter was the one with the still birth and the new baby boy, while Christine Labadie had a baby girl, both living children with a stunning resemblance. So I was born Amethyst Labadie.

"Soon after my birth, we moved to America. My parents hadn't the slightest inkling that I wasn't there child. There were subtle signs that I wasn't quite the same as them, however. One big one was when I was one-year-old. It was a fateful night in August when out of nowhere I began crying. My parents rushed to my crib to find a small white line on my forehead, but it suddenly disappeared in a tiny flash of green light."

"Harry's scar from You-Know-Who!" Hermione gasped.

"Shh!" Ron and Harry whispered, it being their first time to hear the entire story.

"The biggest clue was my hair, however. My hair was raven black, but it made absolutely no sense, because my family was of Irish descent, and the last person in my family to have black hair was my great, great, great, great… well to get to the point, my forty times great grand uncle, a few times removed of course. At first they thought I got into some hair dye, so they tried to remove it with a spell to make it more reddish colored. But the only thing to happen was these," she pointed to her tresses.

"The next day they got our DNA tested. It was as they guessed; I wasn't their child. They assumed that I was the Potter's child. Of course, my birth parents were dead; everyone in the magic community knew that. So they unofficially adopted me into the family. I became Amethyst Labadie for real," Amy finished.

Both Harry and Hermione sat back in awe, but Ron held a confused look on his face. "Why didn't the Labadie's offer to take care of Harry or give you to the Dursleys?" he asked.

"Ron, please, it's a godsend they didn't send her to live with the Dursleys!" Harry cried. "Like they don't have enough fun keeping me under control."

Amy shrugged. "They didn't have enough money to keep Harry and they refused to give me up to the Dursleys." She opened her mouth again as though she might say something, but did not get the chance. The door to the compartment swung open to reveal Malfoy and his crew. 

Ron scowled. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

Ron did not really have to ask to receive an answer. Malfoy was there to pick on Harry and his friends. There was a smaller second reason, too. Really, Malfoy was there to see Amethyst again. "I was just here to see if any of you losers heard about that serial killer. I hear that he's only gone after Muggles so far," he smirked, flashing a malicious glance at Hermione.

"Actually, it's just disappearances, not a serial killer as far as they can tell," corrected Amy calmly without looking up. "And not that it really matters, but so far the attacks have only been in the South of Brazil." She yawned, bored. "If you have no other business here but to inform us of International current events, I suggest you leave."

Everyone slowly turned his or her head to look at the girl with a gaping jaw. "Well… um… fine," Malfoy said with no come back for the first time in his life. He quickly left.

Ron stared at Amy unblinkingly. "PLEASE tell me that you will be here forever," he begged.

Amethyst smiled, shaking her head. "I'm only an exchange student for this year," she giggled.

"One year is good enough for me if you can keep offending Malfoy like that!" laughed Hermione. They all laughed heartily.

"Harry, is your sister seeing anyone back at home?" Ron whispered to his best friend as Hermione and Amy were conversing about courses. Harry elbowed him in the ribs. "It was just a thought!" he quickly spat.

***

Even though Malfoy had been seriously taken aback by the event on the train, he could not deny that he sort of admired the newcomer. He tried to slap the very thought out of his mind, however. "Remember what happened when you gave the dollar to the homeless Muggle," he muttered bitterly, remembering that his father had put a curse on him for a week.

He was walking through the halls when someone tapped his shoulder. It was Goyle. "Malfoy, you'll never guess what I found out about Potter!" he announced, quite proudly.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "If it has anything to do with his new friend, you are once again one step behind me," he muttered tonelessly.

"Wow, boss, you always get the information so fast," Goyle admired his friend.

"I have connections," Malfoy replied. "Goyle, why don't you torture a first year for me," he suggested. Goyle happily walked away at the idea. Malfoy sighed, not watching where he was going. Suddenly he walked into someone else. Both sets of books went tumbling to the ground.

"Whoops, I'm so sorry. I think I am high off of Butterbeer," giggled a familiar voice. The person quickly swooped down and picked up the books, then stood up again. "Here you go," smiled Amy, brushing the hair out of her face. When she could see she gasped, "Malfoy."

In her shock, she accidentally allowed an incredibly heavy Potions book to slip out of her hands and onto her foot. Although she wanted to scream out in pain, she stayed silent and simply began to bend down again to grab it. However, Malfoy stopped her.

"Don't worry, let me get it," he said. He was about to bend over when someone called out to him.

"Malfoy!" Harry cried out angrily. He and his friends walked and stood around Amy. "Amy, we let you go find the bathroom and what happens?" he shook his head.

"What, did Malfoy trip you on purpose?" asked Ron crossly.

"Pick up the books, Malfoy," Hermione added sharply.

Malfoy was not about to stand down. "That's just what I was about to do, Mud blood, before you, Pot-addict, and the oversized weasel came along since your klutzy friend couldn't do a competent job of it," he hissed.

"What did you call her?" growled Harry.

Seeing a fight imminent, Amy stood between the two. "Harry, please, it was just an accident. Let Malfoy get the books and go. I can just ask Madam Trelawney if I can go to the bathroom."

Draco looked down. She called him Malfoy just like everyone else did. He quickly picked up the Potions book and snatched up his books from Amy's hands. "It isn't worth my time," he glared at the four, then walked away.

"Let's go," Harry shook his head sadly, leading Amy away by hand.

Malfoy took one final look over his shoulders. He growled to see that the couple was holding hands. Suddenly the girl turned around and looked at him. She quietly mouthed, "I'm sorry," before turning her head back. Slowly, Malfoy's lower jaw dropped slightly. Then he looked around to make sure no one was looking as he embarrassedly closed his mouth again, regaining his cool.

***

"I have to say that if Madam Trelawney makes another crackpot prediction about my death, I'll slice off my hand and eat my fingers in a quiche," grunted Harry, annoyed by yet another Divination lesson. It had been going on ever since his third year. He was a Ø year for goodness sakes. There was an unfortunate feeling in his stomach that it was NOT going to stop.

"You ever think like, maybe she'll give you extra credit for dying," Ron sniggered.

"That's not funny!" squealed Hermione. "Not with all the times You-Know-Who has tried to kill Harry!"

"What?" Amy cried.

Hermione looked from Amy to Harry. "You mean you haven't told her a single thing? Not one single fight with You-Know-Who?" she asked in shock.

"I never really felt that I should tell her," Harry answered sheepishly.

Amy smacked the back of his head with her palm. "If you haven't noticed, I am your freaking twin! I think I should get to know why I had all those psychic connections with you when you were scared!" she shrieked irately.

Harry felt the back of his head for blood. "I'm sorry! My goodness, I guess I have to start from the beginning," he apologized, recounting all his frightening run-ins with the terrible dark lord himself, his sister an avid listener. At some points it was as though she were trying to remember it, as though she herself had been there.

Harry was at the end of his terrible fourth year encounter when Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil walked into the Common Room, chattering squeakily and quite annoyingly. All their chatter drowned out any other noise in the room.

"What in blazes is so interesting?" Ron queried in an annoyed voice.

Lavender threw the morning paper at him. The other three friends looked over his shoulder as he read the largest article on the Daily Prophet's front page.

"Another missing girl…" Ron paraphrased.

"Shh," Hermione hissed, still reading the article. "Oh my goodness…" she gasped.

"The last victim isn't a Muggle," gasped Amy. "It's a hybrid."

"Keep reading," said Hermione.

Harry quickly scanned the article. "The first victim has showed up dead!" he cried.

"Bite marks found all along the neck," Ron muttered, "Oh that's a lovely picture. They really have to show all that oozing out…"

"Not that part," began Hermione. "Look where this last girl was taken from!"

Amy kept reading the article until she found what Hermione was talking about. "Oh my… the last attack was in Liverpool!"

Harry slumped back into the chair. "So much for wanting a quiet year," he sighed sadly.

Hermione slumped into a chair as well. "I hope the attacker is just some warped Muggle. He's coming to close for comfort. If he is, he won't be able to find the school. I read about it in"-

"Hogwarts, a history," Ron and Harry chorused.

Amethyst shook her head. "Would a Muggle bite someone to death, though?"

Ron shrugged. "A warped snog could lead to that, maybe," he suggested. "Although I don't know how that would lead to silver mass oozing from the neck."

Hermione looked up. "Did you say from the neck?" she repeated.

"Yeah, why?" questioned Ron.

Hermione jumped up, grabbing the article. "I need to go to the"-

"Library," Harry and Ron chorused.

Hermione stopped. "Yes, how did you know?" Harry just snorted, and the signaled for her to just turn around and leave.

Amy slowly stood up. "You know, I think she may be on to something. I'm going to the Library, don't wait up at dinner," she informed, heading out the painting hole.

"Oh good," muttered Ron, "Your sister is Hermione Jr."

"Thinking vampires?" asked Amy when she caught up to Hermione in the library.

"Was it that obvious?" inquired Hermione, looking up from one book she had quickly found.

Amy shrugged. "I guess not, or wouldn't Ron and Harry be following us?"

Hermione just stared at her. "You OBVIOUSLY don't know your brother that well," she sighed. "You have much to learn about Ron, too, apparently." 

Amy just shrugged as she went to look through the rest of the library. She turned a corner when she bumped into someone else, sending pieces of parchment in the other's arm to flutter to the ground. "Oh, goodness, I'm sorry," she quietly apologized, bending down to help pick them up.

"It's fine," gruffly answered the person. The two stood up. The other, a boy, turned to take back his papers from Amy. "Amethyst!" he said in surprise when he saw whom it was.

"Malfoy!" Amethyst returned to shock. "What are you doing here?" She looked at the papers. They were covered in notes about vampires. "Vampires? Oh my… you're studying the disappearances too!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Malfoy snapped, snatching his papers back from Amy. "I was just getting some extra credit information for Lupin," he lied.

"Well, if you need any help with your extra credit report, Hermione and I are looking for information on vampires as well," informed Amy, walking away.

Draco watched her walking away when he quickly told her, "Don't bother looking for much. Vampires don't leek silver liquid."

Amy turned around. "Pardon?" she asked.

"It's just something I noticed in the three hours I've been studying," he quickly said. "Vampires don't ooze silver liquid, if that is what you were looking for." He shrugged.

Amethyst nodded. "Thank you. And good luck with your report." She walked back to the desk where Hermione sat. "Maybe we are on the wrong track," she told Hermione. "After all, since when have you heard of a vampire that left a trail of silver?"

Hermione thought. "You know… that's true," she nodded. She closed her book and got up to leave.

As the two left the library they ran into Malfoy. Hermione sniffed, keeping her gaze forward. "Nice to see you too, Granger," Malfoy scowled. He was about to walk away when he noticed Amy in front of him. She smiled and muttered, "Thanks." Malfoy just shrugged and nodded. When she was out of sight he looked around to make sure no on was watching, and then he smiled. What was going on?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


	2. Love and War

2. Love and War 

"Hmm…" Harry muttered lamely, "Transfiguration with the Slytherin Ø years…"

"Amy, you seem more excited about this than you should be," informed Ron, very confused.

"In my school in America, we never got to have classes with any other houses. We were basically confined to our own house. It isn't that fun because I grew up with the people on the other house teams," Amy replied, keeping her excited appearance. Harry just shrugged.

"Now, just because you are all in your Ø year, it doesn't mean should not remember how to transform a tortoise into a teapot," announced Professor McGonagall. "Now, I want you all to pair up…" immediately everyone began choosing friends from their respective houses. "You didn't allow me to finish," Professor McGonagall smiled. "I want you to partner up with someone from the OPPOSITE house by alphabetical order." As if on cue, everyone groaned. "I believe that you all can survive simply grading your partner's teapot and then returning the tortoises to normal before you return to your seats. Now, Millicent Bulstrode and Lavender Brown…"

For a few minutes, Professor McGonagall read out a list of names until she came to Malfoy's name. "Mr. Malfoy, normally I would have you paired with Mr. Longbottom, but it has come to my attention that we have a guest with us for this year. Miss Labadie, you will work with Mr. Malfoy," she told the two.

Amy nervously walked to the table to work with Malfoy when Professor McGonagall put a hand on her shoulder. "I trust that you can show Mr. Malfoy here a thing or two about the art of Transfiguration," she winked, then quietly added, "Not to mention show the class a thing or two about Animagus."

"Um…" said Amy hesitantly. She looked to Harry, who smiled sheepishly. "Harry, you didn't!" she mouthed angrily. She was about to decline to McGonagall, but she was already calling out more names. Amy sighed and went to the table where Malfoy waited patiently.

"What was that about?" asked Malfoy, who had already begun transforming his tortoise.

"I suppose you'll see soon," she sighed sadly, starting the transformation as well.

"So what is American like?" queried Malfoy.

"How did you know I was from America?" asked Amy.

Malfoy smiled. "Secrets don't stay secrets long at Hogwarts. Besides, I guessed from your accent and your, um… highlights I think you call them."

Amy smiled and looked at him. "Well, you are partially right. I am from America, but these aren't dyed highlights," she began to explain. She was about to tell him where they came from, but couldn't get the words out. Suddenly she glimpsed his pot, which was the most elegant thing she had seen in her entire life. She slightly gasped, dropping her wand, stopping the transformation of her pot.

"What's wrong?" asked Malfoy.

"Nothing," answered Amy, "I just… your… its really… oh never mind…" she sighed, looking at his confused face.

Unfortunately, in the pause, the tortoise, which was mostly porcelain at the moment, spotted a small bag of carrots on the desk of Professor McGonagall. It began walking towards the desk, but as it stepped off the table, due to the laws of gravity, it plummeted to the ground and smashed into a thousand pieces.

Suddenly, Amy heard the crash and looked down at the floor where both her tortoise and her wand lay. She quickly knelt, trying to piece together the broken pieces. However, Professor McGonagall was coming. Malfoy tried to pick her up by the shoulders, but she stayed glued to the ground.

"Get up! The professor is coming to get the grades!" hissed Malfoy.

"Screw my grade, I just killed the poor thing!" she snapped.

"Grading?" asked Professor McGonagall when she got there.

Suddenly, Malfoy did something somewhat involuntary. "Perfect A," he spat out, pointing to his own teapot. "She can't grade mine, as it is on the floor. In unfortunately broke."

"Very well," the professor said. "You can do another tortoise for me later, Mr. Malfoy."

Amy stopped fumbling with the pieces a minute and quickly stood up. "What in blazes are you doing?" she demanded, beginning to go after Professor McGonagall.

"It's ok, I can just make it up later," Draco said, catching her by the shoulder.

"But you don't understand," tried to tell Amy, "I'm going to demon"-

Draco interrupted her. "Really, it's OK," he said. Amy just stood there, confused.

Later after everyone finished his or her tortoises, they returned to their seats. Amy fumbled nervously with her quill. She kept shooting small and confused glances at Malfoy, who did not look at her.

"Miss Labadie!" called Professor McGonagall.

Amethyst's quill flipped out of her hand as she was called upon. "Yes?" she squeaked. Suddenly she remembered what she had to do and kicked Harry in the leg.

"Please come front and center," ordered McGonagall.

As Amethyst stood up, Harry just smiled at her. "Don't worry, you'll do fine," he winked.

She walked to the front of the room to where McGonagall stood. "I thought that you all might like to know that we have an Animagus with us here today," she said to the class, pointing at Amy. A small murmur went rolling through the class. "Miss Labadie, are you willing to give us a small demonstration?"

Amy nodded nervously, mouthing to Harry, "I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you!" She stood back and sat on Professor McGonagall's desk. For a few moments she sat there, simply closing her eyes. Suddenly she began to shrink and change color. Within seconds, she became a small, black fox with a simple collar. The only thing that resembled her human form were small patches of fur on her forehead that were reddish colored.

As the Gryffindor house applauded for her, the Slytherin house simply grumbled. Only one Slytherin seemed slightly intrigued. Amy tried to walk around the desk, but within a matter of seconds, she grew in size and quickly transformed into her human form once more, toppling off the desk. All the Slytherin students roared with laughter, but the Gryffindors stood up to see what had happened.

"Miss Labadie?" asked McGonagall in a half worried tone.

Amy stood up and brushed herself off. "I'm fine, I can only hold my transformation for ten seconds before I involuntarily return," she sadly admitted. She glared at Harry and mouthed once more, "I'm going to kill you!" Then she turned guiltily to Malfoy and gave him a look that purely said, "I told you so…"

Draco, who was still busy being slightly impressed, simply shook his head and shrugged, giving her a look that said, "Whatever."

"Still, that is quite impressive for a Ø year," informed Professor McGonagall. "Ten points to Gryffindor." The Gryffindor students cheered, as Amy blushed, returning to her seat.

"That was amazing, Amy!" squealed Hermione with delight. "When did you learn to do that?"

Amy was about to answer when something caught her eye. She slightly turned to see that Malfoy was silently applauding. Amy's jaw dropped slightly. Quickly, she turned to see if any of her friends had seen, which they hadn't. She turned back to Malfoy, but he was talking to Goyle and Crabbe. "It's just something I picked up from my mom's old library," she replied absentmindedly.

"See, you did fine," whispered Harry.

"Yes, but I'm still going to kill you! How could you tell her, especially when you knew I can't hold a transformation?" Amy hissed angrily.

"But I didn't really," replied Harry, "Just listen to McGonagall."

All four turned back to the professor's lecture. "Miss Labadie is one of the youngest Animagi in nearly a century. I noticed her name on the list of legal Animagi and confirmed my suspicions with Mr. Potter. Hopefully, you can learn from her example this year," she told the class proudly. "Your only homework for tonight is to write in a reasonable paragraph what animal you would became if you were an Animagus and why. Class dismissed."

As the two houses left, Millicent walked with Malfoy. "What a show off," she huffed angrily.

"Can I deck her, boss, can I?" begged Crabbe.

"No!" sharply replied Malfoy. When he saw the surprised look on his companions' faces, he quickly lied, "I mean, she isn't worth it. She after all, is a lowly Gryffindor. In any case, I will be the only one to take care of her." His followers regained their sly smiles. He sighed with relief. Never ever, EVER would he let to ANYONE to know that he was going the slightest bit soft. The consequences could have been hazardous to his reputation as well as his health. Already he could picture being put into a leg-lock curse for a month.

***

"And did you see the absolute look of jealousy on all the Slytherins' faces?" laughed Ron heartily. "I could have died happy right there," he declared.

"Ron, please, it isn't anything to boast about. I fell of the God forsaken desk!" Amy disagreed.

"Amy, don't be so hard on yourself!" Hermione coaxed. "Do you realize one of the last youngest Animagi was _your father_? He would be so proud of you! Besides, we have something else we can shove in Malfoy's face…"

"Hermione!" Harry said, slightly shocked at her.

"Yea… Malfoy…" Amy repeated half-heartedly. Her thoughts drifted back to him. She wanted to tell her brother about what he did for her, but wouldn't they only think he was trying to get leverage on her? Was he? Amy really didn't think so. In fact, she felt that he was much nicer than he would let on. After he had finished turning the tortoise back, he stroked it and whispered, "I told you I would get you back to normal."

"This calls for a celebration!" cried Harry, snapping Amethyst out of her deep and pensive trance.

"Trip to Hogsmeade?" suggested Ron.

"How can we?" asked Amy. "Tonight's not a Hogsmeade night for the castle."

The three looked at each other. "I think it's time I showed you a gift from dad," said Harry, taking her back to the common room.

***

After a quick trip to the Three Broomsticks, the four sat in the common room, laughing gaily. Almost everyone at the pub had double taken Harry and Amy before rubbing his or her eyes. Like everyone else though, the poor victim noticed very distinct differences about the twins.

"Tomorrow we get out of classes early, why don't we take another trip?" suggested Ron.

"Maybe," thought Hermione, "But only if I don't need to go to the"-

"Library," Harry and Ron chorused again. She just glared at them.

"I'm sorry guys," apologized Amethyst, "I wish I could but I have to…"

"Don't tell me YOU have to go to the library too," sighed Ron, rolling his eyes.

Amy shook her head. "I wish it was just that. I somehow got myself stuck in a position where Professor McGonagall wants me to write an essay two scrolls long about how I learned to become an Animagus," she explained, "That will probably take me nearly an afternoon to do." For a moment she thought, and then looked at her watch. "In fact, maybe I should start it now…" she thought out loud, going to her dorm.

"I think it's official," whispered Ron to Harry, "Your sister is Hermione's clone in your body."

***

Draco Malfoy paced his dorm while the others were in the Common Room. That had been a close call back at Transfiguration. He wasn't sure if he would be able to make up another quick excuse like that. In fact he had dug an even deeper grave than just needing to make excuses. His comrades were now starting to pester him about how he was going to get back at Amethyst for being a little miss perfect. The truth was he COULDN'T get back at her, he didn't WANT to, but he couldn't disappoint his public…

"Any new ideas?" asked Goyle, booming into the dorm.

Draco almost jumped at the sudden intrusion, but quickly regained his composure before Goyle could see his fear. "No, and I would have had one if you hadn't broken my train of thought," Malfoy snapped, lying again.

"Sorry, Draco. I'll be more quiet," apologized Goyle.

"Fat chance," Malfoy murmured to himself. He continued to pace around the room, thinking of ideas.

Goyle silently watched his leader pace, amazingly not getting dizzy. "I'm telling you, boss, just let me and Crabbe get a good swipe at her, it will be easy. She wouldn't look so great anymore!"

"Goyle…" Draco rolled his eyes.

"Right, silence, sorry," Goyle quickly shut up. He returned to watching Malfoy pace. "I'm going to steal food from the House elves with Crabbe. Want to come?"

"No, I'm going to THINK," Malfoy answered. As he watched his crony walk out of the dorm, he breathed a deep sigh of relief. "That was far too close. I need to think of something quickly. It needs to be something lasting, something that will get me the recognition of the others for at least a week. However, it can't be something that will make her hate me for the rest of the year… it has to be…" suddenly he spotted himself in the mirror.

He quickly stalked up to it and looked at his face. "My goodness, are those whiskers?" he asked himself. "After all, I am 10 + Ø and…" Malfoy suddenly had his answer. He stroked his chin, laughing hard, prouder of himself than he ever had been before.

***

"Hmm… this is lovely," thought Ron aloud. "First we have Transfiguration with Slytherin Ø years, in which we totally humiliate them. Now we have Potions with them, in which they will probably kill us."

"Oh don't be so pessimistic, Ron," scolded Hermione. "After all, we are only having a review on the Hair Growth Potion."

"Hermione, need we remind you that only six people the other day were able to concoct the Hair Growth Potion, namely you, Amy, and four other Slytherins?" asked Harry.

"What about Neville?" Hermione reminded.

"Well… he half got it right," began Ron. "He did manage to get the potion to work. Unfortunately he did almost end up making the test subject choke on hair, so that doesn't really count."

"Speaking of Amy, where is she?" inquired Hermione.

"She was still working on her essay and said that she would meet us at the Dungeons," replied Harry.

The four entered their gloomy dungeon classroom. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry spotted his sister, who had already taken a seat along one of the potion tables. They sat down beside her.

Malfoy, who too had been waiting in his seat for the potions master to arrive, smiled as he watched the trio sit by their new friend. He turned to his comrades and whispered, "Now watch the fireworks fly." Quietly, he took out his wand and muttered a small spell.

Amy looked before her and noticed a small rose before her. "My goodness, was this here before?" She took it in her hand and noticed a small note attached that read, "To Amethyst." Harry, who had turned to talk to her, was only able to get out a smile before Amy interrupted. "Thank you, Harry!"

"But I didn't do anything…" he said.

Amethyst looked at the rose. "Well, then… ah well." She held it up her nose and inhaled deeply.

Suddenly, Millicent pointed at the girl and began laughing wildly. All the Slytherins turned and began laughing hard, too. Gryffindors turned to see what was going on. A few snickered a bit while others made disapproving faces.

"What's so funny?" asked Amy.

Hermione's jaw dropped. She quickly pulled out a mirror from her sack and gave it to the girl. Amy looked at it and gasped. Her face was covered in a full-grown beard. Quickly, she snapped her head in Malfoy's direction. He winked at her and smiled malevolently. His fellow Slytherins patted him on the back and rooted.

"What is going on?" bellowed Professor Snape. Immediately the class went deathly silent.

"You there," he pointed to Amy, obviously not seeing the obvious. "Tell me what… who in blazes are you?" He finally realized the very obvious. The Slytherins began laughing all over again until he glared at them.

"Amethyst Labadie," Amy answered quietly, trying not to cry.

Snape had a weird look upon his face, like he ate a lemon to fast. "Well… um…" he stuttered. "Who, who did this?" he asked, "Speak up now."

Everyone turned silently and looked at Malfoy. "I did it, sir," Malfoy answered bravely.

"Mr. Malfoy," said Snape. "Interesting use of our lesson from the other day. Five points to Slytherin." All the Gryffindors looked at each other, indignant. Malfoy, however, didn't want that to happen. He looked to Amethyst, who was on the verge of tears.

"But professor!" Hermione was about to complain loudly. "What about Amethyst?"

"Silence, Miss Granger," snapped Professor Snape. "Your friend is fine. Go to the Hospital Wing if you must."

Silent tears dripping down her beard, Amy got up to leave. Hermione, Harry, and Ron stood up to, but Professor Snape stopped them. "I don't recall you three gaining full-grown beards. Miss Labadie can make it herself," he told them curtly. Amy left alone, but before she did, she threw a terrible look at Malfoy.

For the first time in Draco's life, he did not feel good about making a Gryffindor feel miserable. Her gaze had burned straight through him. In fact he almost felt… sorry! He quickly wiped the thought from his mind, but it kept sneaking up on him during class…

***

"Amy, are you alright?" asked Harry after classes were over. The three had come to visit her in the Hospital Wing.

She nodded slightly. "Madam Pomfrey says that all the hair will disintegrate in three hours or so," Amy mumbled, staring out the window.

"If you want, we can stay with you, we can always go out tomorrow," suggested Hermione.

"No, go on," Amy shook her head. "I don't want you to be bored inside the castle just because I was stupid." The three nodded, smiled, and were gone. She really did not understand it. How could he possibly be so sweet at one moment, and the suddenly malicious and unmerciful the next?

"How are you feeling, dear?" asked Madam Pomfrey, bustling in.

Amy slowly turned her head to answer. She was still feeling confused, so maybe that's why the room was spinning. Everything was getting warm; she couldn't hold herself up anymore. "I feel…"

"Oh goodness!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed, rushing over to the bed and catching her before she could fall off the bed. "You must have an allergic reaction to the potion!" She helped her back into the bed. "You will be staying here for MUCH longer than just 3 more hours! Professor Snape will be getting an earful from me today!" 

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	3. Heart of a Snake

3. The Heart of a Snake 

Draco was walking down the hall to the bathroom.  After he got over the shock of almost feeling really bad for a mud-blood, he began thinking somewhat highly of himself once more.  No longer did he have to worry about being punished.

Suddenly someone pushed him.  "What in blazes is this all about?" he cried out, turning to his attacker.  It was Potter and Weasley.

"Do you know where Amy is?" asked Ron angrily.

"No, and why should I care?" replied Malfoy.

"She's in the Hospital Wing!" cried Harry.

"No kidding, I gave her the potion, which gave her a beard, so she is there to get it taken off without having to shave, what's the big deal," said Malfoy, bored.

"No, Malfoy, it isn't just that," Ron corrected.  "She had an allergic reaction to the Hair Growth Potion."

"She's got a fever and is delusional," added Harry.

"What?" Malfoy asked unbelievingly.

"You heard right," glared Harry.

Malfoy looked from one to the other, each with a piercing glare.  "I… I don't know what to say…" he mumbled.

"Don't say anything, Malfoy.  It isn't like you even care," Ron hissed.  The two walked away.

Malfoy stood there, cold and slightly ashamed.  He really hadn't wanted her to get sick.  All he wanted was to keep his reputation intact.  He looked at his watch.  Roaming hours would be over soon and he would have to get back to the Slytherin Wing.  But maybe, that is if Potter and his friends weren't there the entire day, maybe he could…

What was he thinking?  He was feeling almost warm and fuzzy all over.  ICK.  Before he could feel anything again, he raced back to his portrait hole and to his dorm.  It pained him to think he had even almost thought of ap… apolo… apologize… apologizing!

He sat down on his bed.  Maybe he just needed to rest.  Looking in the mirror he did seem a bit frazzled.  Already, Crabbe and Goyle were snoring loudly in their beds.  Malfoy nodded to himself, slipping into his covers.  All he needed was a good night's rest.

***

By the next morning, Malfoy was feeling in tiptop shape.  All he really needed was to calm down and sleep.  That was a relief, because the last thing he needed was to feel sorry for anybody.

He left his dorm and headed to the common room.  Surprisingly, no one was there.  The room was deathly silent.  Well, after all, it was a Saturday.  Maybe all the others were just having fun elsewhere.  But still, this silence was frightening, and just a bit ominous.

In search of anybody, Draco left the Slytherin wing.  He stepped outside of the portrait hole to find that even the halls were empty.  Not even the ghosts were slipping through the walls as they normally did.  What in blazes was going on?

Malfoy began searching the school for any sign of life.  All the classrooms were empty, not one teacher was sitting at his or her desk grading papers.  Had he missed some big announcement, like a celebration of some sort?  Maybe that was it, just a simple gathering in the Great Hall.  He decided to go there to see if that was it.

He entered the Great Hall, hoping to find his answer.  The hall was filled with students, but there was a tomblike silence.  Although the doors creaked when he entered, no one looked his way.  Some sat still as stone, not like they had been frozen, but as though they did it out of respect.  Others had a looks of morose.  Then there were a select few with tears dripping silently down their faces.  Out of these few, Draco noticed that there was Harry and Hermione.  Ron only had a look of pure graveness, for he never was one to show much emotion.

Harry walked slowly to the front of the Great Hall where the teacher's table lay.  However, today another object lay before it, something oblong, almost like a coffin, but not quite.  It was then that Draco noticed black drapes hung around the room.  The last time this had happened was in his fourth year when Cedric Diggory had passed away.

Harry knelt down and embraced what was in the oblong box.  He then stood up and turned to Malfoy.  "You chose never to care.  You let your heart of stone take over," he said in a monotonous tone.

Hermione kept her icy stare forward.  "Caring kept you from doing worse, but hate lead you to carelessness," she added in another dull tone.

"You hide behind your composure, but it brings you nothing," said Ron.

Harry looked straight at Malfoy.  Although he said nothing, the frightened boy walked to the front of the Great Hall.  The other thousands of pairs of eyes did not watch, but only kept their gaze forward as he walked to the oblong box.  Harry stepped aside as Malfoy peered into the box.

Malfoy jumped back and gasped.  Lying in the box was the cold, dead figure of Amethyst.  "What the hell happened?" he demanded.  No one answered; they only gazed on.  "It was just a practical joke," he explained, stepping back.  "How was I supposed to know she was allergic?"

"Your bitterness can only hurt and destroy," said a familiar voice from behind him.

Malfoy spun around to find a pale version of Amethyst standing before him.  "What do you want from me?" he demanded.

"Why, Malfoy?" asked Amethyst.  "Why do you insist on hurting those that you admire?"  She held up one of her pale hands to point around the entire room.

Malfoy began looking around the room.  Where Harry once stood was a half rotten figure.  Suddenly Malfoy realized it was Harry!  Draco looked around more to see a knife sticking through Hermione's heart, Ron covered in blood, Dumbledore set aflame, and much more.

Suddenly everyone finally looked at him and began chanting, "Why?"  In low, monotonous voices they all chanted, "Why, why, why?"

Draco grabbed his head, trying to escape those frighteningly in sync voices that repeated the same question over and over again.  The room spun around him as more students were transformed into half-dead people.

***

"I DON'T KNOW!" Malfoy cried out, springing into an erect sitting position in bed.  He panted, looking around.  He was back in his dormitory.  The sun was beginning to rise outside the window.  Goyle and Crabbe were still snoring in their beds, somehow able to block out Malfoy's odd outburst.

"It was just a dream…" Malfoy muttered to himself, wiping the sweat from his face.  It had been quite a realistic dream as well, however.  He could still see Amethyst laying in the coffin and… Amethyst!  Could she really die from the potion?  Malfoy quickly changed and ran out the door.

"Mr. Malfoy?" asked Madam Pomfrey, slightly confused.  "What are doing here, and at this time in the morning?"

"I came to see Amethyst," he answered, slightly panting.  He had run straight from his common room to the Hospital Wing.  "How is she?"

"Sleeping," the nurse answered, then added skeptically, "Like you should be."

Draco sighed with relief and muttered under his breath, "Good, she isn't dead."

However, Madam Pomfrey still heard him.  "Dead?  Mr. Malfoy, people don't die from Hair Growth Potions, nor do they normally die from allergies."

"I had this…" he tried to explain, but changed his mind.  "Never mind… can I just see her?"

"I repeat: she is sleeping.  However, you may come back later when she is awake," Madam Pomfrey suggested.

"I don't want to risk running into…" Draco began, but saw the confused look the school nurse gave him and once again changed his answer.  "Never mind."  He left the Hospital Wing.  Even with the information given, he was not comforted.  What if he had killed her with something as simple as a Hair Growth Potion?

Then he realized something.  In his dream Amethyst had called him Malfoy.  He snorted.  Even his own subconscious did not respect him, not even in a dream.  No, it was not a dream; it was a full-blown nightmare.  And maybe… maybe it spoke the truth…

Draco came back later that day.  Luckily, Potter and his friends were nowhere in sight when he made his way to the Hospital wing.  Hopefully they were not with Amethyst right at this very moment.

"Is she awake now?" Malfoy asked Madam Pomfrey.

"Yes, you may go see her now," the nurse answered.

Malfoy almost walked away, but paused and added, "And is anyone already with her?"

"No," Madam Pomfrey added, partially understandingly.  "You just missed Mr. Potter, he left with his friends maybe five minutes ago."

Malfoy nodded and made his way to Amethyst's bed.  Her head was turned, staring out the window.  He slightly gasped.  She was frighteningly pale, almost as pale as she had been in his dream.  Then he gathered all his courage and walked toward her.  As he sat down he held out something, a single white rose.

Without turning or even flickering an eye in his direction she asked, "Come to poison me some more?"

Malfoy was slightly stung by the question.  "No," he answered simply.  He still held out the rose for her, but she did not take it, nor did she even turn her head to look directly at it.  He looked at her.  The entire beard had fallen off.  In fact, it was not until now that he had really taken the time to appreciate how delicate her features were.  Go figure.

He looked down at the floor.  "Amethyst… I'm sorry," he began to apologize.  He opened his mouth to say something else, but Amy quickly a slender finger up to his mouth.  Malfoy was slightly frightened by the sudden and powerful gaze she cast upon him.

"Malfoy, just stop," she interrupted.  "I think I know what you would say," she began, lowering her hand from his lips. 

His heartbeat slightly quickened as he felt her smooth skin slid down his lower lip.  When he could breath correctly again he asked, "And what do you think I would say?"

"The first thing that you could tell me," she replied, and then added, "Whether it be truth or lie."  She looked into his eyes, which were slightly downcast.  "But if you tell me either, you want to know what?"  At this, his eyes slightly turned up to look straight back at her.  With the pleading look on his face, she couldn't believe she didn't hold back from saying this.  "I don't want to hear it."

Draco sat back in his seat, casting his gaze downward again.  He nodded once and then stood up to leave.  The rose was still clutched in his hand.  Without hesitation, he placed it on the bedside table, and then took his leave.  Before he left, he threw a final glance over his shoulder.  Amethyst had returned to looking out the window.  He turned around and left.  Had he looked just five more seconds, he would have spotted a tear slide down her pale face.

***

All into October, the two didn't exchange a single word to each other.  However, it didn't mean that they didn't think about each other.  Surprisingly, Draco ended up thinking about Amethyst more than he meant to.  For one thing, that dream still kept haunting him when he was awake and partially when he slept.  For another thing, he couldn't get over how he felt when she had touched his lips.  Inhibitions were the only thing keeping him from… not that it mattered, for these emotions would soon pass.

Amy could only guess what Malfoy was going to say to her in the Hospital Wing.  She could only think that maybe he was going to tell her that he felt something.  Maybe she felt it, too.  However, it was totally evident that her brother would one day find Malfoy in a dark alley and strangle him, or the other way around.

"Amy… Amy!" Harry hissed at Amy during Potions one day.  "Take some caterpillar before Snape kills you!"

Amy quickly took a handful of the dried ingredient before passing it down the row.  The professor eyed her oddly, getting another weird look on his face like he ate a lemon too fast.  He had been doing that recently, ever since she came back from the Hospital Wing.

"Ugh," muttered Ron.  "I remember the last time we had to work with these things.  It was our third year and Malfoy was pretending that his arm was too dead to move."

"I was ready to give him a good case of summer teeth," mumbled Harry, just as angrily as Ron.

"Summer teeth?" repeated Hermione.

"Yeah, some are here, some are there," explained Harry, strangling the caterpillar as though he thought it were Malfoy.

Amy gulped slightly.  Maybe this was a worse idea than she previously thought.  Her eyes flickered to the opposite side of the room.  Malfoy sat there, doing his experiment, and laughing with friends.  Maybe he had forgotten everything by now.  She turned back to her own friends and decided to try and forget, too.

"Hermione, your parents are dentists.  You never heard them use that term before?" she laughed, turning her attention back to reality.

Malfoy kept flashing glances to the other side of the room.  It looked like she forgot everything that happened.  He figured she would, after all she obviously showed no interest in what he was going to say to her.

What he really wanted to know, though, was what did she do with that rose?  He wondered if maybe she had discarded it.  If she had, maybe that would have been the better scenario for him.  There was still the threat that his father could find out all about this.  But still… it might have been sort of nice if she had kept it…

"Draco, what you did was absolutely ingenious!" chortled Millicent, snapping the blond haired boy out of his trance.

"Yeah, boss, it was more maniacal than normal!" added Crabbe.

Draco gave them both weird stares until he understood what they were talking about, Amethyst's beard.

"Did you know that she had an allergic reaction to it?" asked Goyle.

"I bet you did!  That's what made it even better!" laughed Pansy Parkinson**.**  "Even Professor Snape died laughing from that prank!"

"Since when does Professor Snape laugh?" asked Blaise Zabini.

"Apparently since Malfoy pulled that slick one," smiled Crabbe, patting Draco on the back.

Draco painfully forced out a fake smile.  He was a hero to all the Slytherins, and then hated by just about everyone else (more so than usual).  He disgusted even the students in the other houses.  How could this scenario have gotten any worse for him?

"What do you mean I can't go to Hogsmeade?" Draco cried, outraged.

"You are banned from the Halloween trip to Hogsmeade for using the Hair Growth Potion on Miss Labadie," explained Professor Snape after class.  "It seems that you were a bit too careless."

"It was a simple Hair Growth Potion!  How was I supposed to know she had a devastating allergic reaction to it?" Malfoy gritted his teeth.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Malfoy, but I can't do anything about it.  Headmaster Dumbledore has his mind made up about," replied Professor Snape.  "So remember, next week on Halloween, you are not permitted to go to Hogsmeade."  He turned to write the homework on the blackboard.

Draco walked away, smacking his forehead.  "Unbelievable…" he muttered.  "I make one mistake and I'm reprimanded for life."

"Oh, and Mr. Malfoy," Snape quickly added without turning from the board.  "I suggest next time you please listen more carefully when I mention to the class that a potion should not be mixed with pollen."

***

"What do you mean you can't go to Hogsmeade?" Harry asked Amy, outraged.

"I never received a permission slip to go into the village," Amy explained simply.

"You should just ask McGonagall if you can go," suggested Ron.  "After all, it isn't like there are anymore crazed maniacs loose from Azkaban hanging around."  He nudged Harry slyly, who gave him an appreciative smirk.

"Really, Amy, you should just ask," agreed Hermione.  "Ron's right, there's nothing to fear of running into at Hogsmeade."

"Well, except for that kidnapper, possibly," reminded Amy.  "Who isn't exactly a crazed maniac from Azkaban," she added, giving the two boys a questioning stare.

"Um…" they muttered.

"Something else my brother forgot to tell me?" Amy asked Hermione, keeping her eyes on the boys, waiting for an answer.

"Third year run-in," Hermione informed.

"Oh," Amy said simply.  "Well, thank you, Hermione.  Now if you excuse me, I need to have a nice chat with Professor McGonagall."  She began walking away towards the teacher's office.

"Some twin brother," Hermione muttered.

"Professor McGonagall?" Amy called into the empty room.  The teacher was at her desk, grading essays.  "Professor, I wanted to ask"-

"The answer is no," the teacher answered curtly, not taking her eyes off of the papers.

"Professor, you didn't even hear my question," Amy argued.

Professor McGonagall put down the quill and parchment in her hands and took her glasses off.  "Miss Labadie, I don't need to hear your question to know what it is.  You would like to know if you might attend the trip to Hogsmeade, yes?"  Amy nodded.  "Well, then my answer is, no, you may not."

"Why not?" Amy asked, hoping she had not gone too far.

"Because your parents expressly forbade it," Professor McGonagall answered.

Amy felt confused.  "My parents never even received a permission slip, why would they"-

McGonagall interrupted.  "No, not your adoptive parents.  _Your_ parents," she informed.  She pointed to a chair.  "Amethyst, sit down," she said with a more gentle tone.  "After you and your brother were born, your parents decided that when you came to Hogwarts that you would not be allowed to go into Hogsmeade.  For one, it had little to no protection from evil, for another, this lead to the fear that You-Know-Who would attack you in the village.  Of course, at the time they did not realize that you were their child, but if they had, they would have kept their word true."

"But that doesn't make sense," Amy refuted.  "Harry still can go into Hogsmeade."

"Harry has permission from a living guardian, and I can do nothing about that," replied Professor McGonagall.  "Good day, Miss Labadie."

Amy walked from the room, now very confused.  Would the Durselys really have given permission for Harry to go to Hogsmeade?  Even if they had, would the school have really accepted that?  In the common room, they waited for her.

"What did she say?" Ron asked.

"No," Amy answered.  "Harry, who gave you permission to go to Hogsmeade?"

Harry answered, "My godfath"- suddenly he realized that he had totally forgotten to tell Amy all about Sirius Black.

"A godfather?  Well, that explains why you can go and I can't!" Amy exclaimed.  She explained to them what Professor McGonagall had told her.  "So who is _your_ godfather?" she asked.

"Sirius Black," Harry muttered.

"Sirius Black?" repeated Amy.  "So this is the crazed maniac from Azkaban you were talking about?  Well, Harry, why don't you tell me about this one?" she suggested, folding her arms.

Harry began to tell his third year.  He told her all about how at first he hated Sirius for supposedly killing his parents, and then suddenly finding out that he was his godfather, and then finally learning the truth.  All the while, he tried to avoid looking at Amethyst.  It was a bit like looking into a mirror that made him look angry.  "I'm sorry," he apologized, but even to himself he sounded lame.  "But he does know about you, at least I think he does.  I sent him an owl over summer."

"Well, it's good to know that," Amy replied, partly sarcastic.

"You're a lot less scared that your godfather is a wanted man," said Ron.

"Because a forensics scientist in America study the case, finding Black innocent, but the Ministry of Magic in London refused to accept the data, and still does," Amy answered.

"Who?" Hermione inquired.

"_My_ dad," she replied coolly.  She began to walk to her dorm.

"Amy, I'm sorry you can't go to Hogsmeade," Harry apologized again.

"It's ok," she said, still walking forward.  "I can always just borrow the invisibility cloak," she reminded.  Suddenly, at the top of the staircase she turned around and looked straight at Harry.  "Or is that only yours, too?"

***

"Maybe she's just a bit high strung about not being able to go to Hogsmeade," suggested Ron a few days later at breakfast.  "After all, you can't be expected to share your entire life with her," he added, having had to be given hand-me downs for most of his life.

"Ron, Harry and Amy are twins.  Amy should be told at least the most dangerous and important parts of Harry's life," argued Hermione.  "Although, this must be very tough for you, Harry.  I suppose you couldn't have gotten it all out to her at once."

Harry shook his head.  "No, Hermione, you're right.  Amy has the right to know.  In her letters to me, she was descriptive about the high points in her life.  I suppose she felt she needed to stack up to me."

"Well, you are… well… famous," Ron reminded.

"I mean, what if I HAD died when fighting Voldemort?  Being twins, she probably would have been in terrible pain for no reason whatsoever," Harry thought.  He stood up and walked to where his sister sat. 

Recently, after their fight, Amy somewhat avoided being with Harry and started to get closer with her other fellow Gryffindors, especially Seamus, Neville, Patil, and Lavender.  Right now she was busy talking to Seamus.

"Excuse me," Harry interrupted.  "Amethyst, can I talk to you outside?"  Amy nodded and got up to leave with Harry.

Outside the Great Hall, Harry was about to speak when Amethyst spat out, "Did Hermione and Ron only talk to me because I'm your sister?  Did they feel they needed to be my friend because I'm your sister?"

Harry was now furious.  He slapped her across the face.  "That was absolutely unnecessary," he bellowed.  "Look, I'm sorry that I haven't been totally frank with you, but right now, I'm still getting over the fact that my twin sister is still alive!  Hell, I'm still getting over the fact that I HAVE a twin sister.  The Dursleys mentioned only once in my entire life that my parents had had a stillbirth, and all they said was, 'Good thing the other one died.'  And yes, at first Ron and Hermione were talking to you because they wanted you to feel welcome, but after that they genuinely liked you," Harry informed angrily.

"Hermione is astonished that you two nearly have the same intellect and need for knowledge," he told her, his voice becoming a bit gentler.  "And Ron… he… sort of thinks that you are hot."

"He what?" Amy asked unbelievingly.

"He was impressed the first day he met you and you made Malfoy leave without raising so much as an eye.  After that he just really began to like you," Harry smiled.

"So why hasn't he said anything?  He hardly even seems mildly interested," said Amy.

"Well, he said that if he began to like you it would feel weird because he would feel like he had a crush on me.  Plus I told him that I would break his jaw if he made a wrong move on you," Harry informed.

"Which came first?" Amy asked.

"I told him I would break his jaw if he made a wrong move on you," Harry grinned slyly.  Amy snorted.

Suddenly, she threw her arms around him and began crying.  "Harry, I just want to know more about you, my brother, my twin, THE famous Harry Potter!  When I was eleven and had just come back home for the year, I passed out on the kitchen floor and my mother sighed and said, "Oh dear, what is Harry doing now?"  Do you know when that was?  The exact same time you battled Voldemort for the first time!"

Harry grabbed her tightly.  "I know, I'm sorry.  I never meant to cause you pain.  Really, I want to know more about you, too."

Amy released and stepped back.  "Well, we have twenty minutes before class starts.  Let's just start over."

"Alright," Harry agreed.  He put out a hand.  "Hi, I'm Harry Potter.  I'm your twin brother."

Hermione looked down at Ron, who looked back up at her.  They slipped back around the wall.  "You think that they made up?" she asked.

"Yup, I think so."

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	4. Skates and Kisses

4. Skates and Kisses 

Soon Halloween had come. That afternoon, students began lining up at the castle doors to leave for Hogsmeade, Harry, Ron, and Hermione included. They were in their common room, begging one more time their friend come.

"Are you sure you can't convince McGonagall to let you go?" pleaded Ron.

"I'm sorry, Ron. I just can't go," Amy replied. She was starting to see what Harry was talking about. "Besides, this will give me some time to explore the castle on my own." She then waved goodbye as her friends walked out the portrait hole.

Amy decided to visit the owlry. As she entered the tower, Hedwig greeted her with a small hoot. "Hullo, Hedwig." She then turned to her own mail carrier, which in fact was NOT an owl, but a red-tailed hawk by the name of Wraith. Wraith screeched, picking up a letter with her beak.

Amy took the letter. It was from her parents. The letter read:

_Dear Amethyst, _

_How are things at Hogwarts? Hope that you've met a few new friends. How is Harry doing? Tell him that we said hi and send our love. After all, the last time we saw him; he was just a tiny baby boy! _

_By the way, Happy Halloween! Your father tried to put some candy into the envelope, but Wraith kept pecking at it, so he gave up. On the subject, hope no one is devastated that you insisted on owning a hawk instead of an owl. _

_Have you heard the news? Another girl was found dead with the same bite marks as the first, while another girl was taken, this time from Paris. We were both a little worried when we heard that the abductor was in Liverpool. Luckily he has passed through with only one victim. Your father is working tirelessly to find out what the silver substance is, so if this note is wet, you know why. _

_Love, _

_Mom & Dad _

Amy stroked Wraith before leaving. She would have to send a note back, but right now she needed to go to the library. Maybe it was just because her father was a forensics scientist, but Amethyst had a curiosity for the silver substance as well.

The library was empty but for a few first and second years, who weren't allowed to go into Hogsmeade. Amy searched for some books on vampires. Maybe they normally didn't leave trails of silver goop, but maybe this was some sort of calling card for a particular vampire or group of vampires.

She searched for an hour or two through hundreds of books on vampires. None of them even slightly mentioned vampires that purposely left trails of silver blood. Then she thought of something. Maybe she should have been focusing more on the silver.

Amy began looking for books on unicorns. Unicorns had silver blood, didn't they? But that did not really make sense. People weren't unicorns, were they? "If only Hermione were here," she thought. "She would know what to do." Reluctantly, Amy left the library, knowing she was getting nowhere.

Draco was not handling his time alone quite as well as Amethyst was. He was deathly bored without his comrades around and had no wish to talk to any of the first or second year students. Maybe there was someone in the halls he could curse or something. Desperate for any sort of entertainment, he left the common room with his wand.

He walked aimlessly through the castle, corridor after corridor. Suddenly he finally found a victim, or at least heard a victim. Someone beyond the bend of the hall was humming to him or herself. Draco got a sly smile on his face as he looked to see who it was.

He slightly gasped. It was Amethyst, unfortunately. She was sitting on a staircase, lacing up a pair of odd shoes with wheels (roller blades to us Muggles.) Amethyst, who had nothing better to do with her time, had decided that she might as well tour the school in style. Draco tried to walk quietly away, but halted when he heard:

"Hello, Malfoy." Amethyst greeted him without looking up from her skates. "I could hear you breathing about ten yards away. What are you doing alone in the castle? Causing a little mayhem?"

Malfoy scowled. "I could ask you the same thing. And what are those things?"

"First of all, I don't have a permission slip to go to Hogsmeade, so I'm stuck here in the castle. Second of all, these are called roller blades. It's a Muggle sport, so you probably would not understand it," Amy informed.

"I could learn any stupid Muggle sport," Malfoy retorted hotly. "Just give me a pair of those blade thing-ums."

"Fine," replied Amy. She pulled out a wand and muttered, "Duplickon," pointing to her own pair of roller skates. Immediately, another pair appeared, identical to hers. She handed them to the boy. "Lace up and show me what you know."

Draco sat down and put on the skates with ease, but when it came time to actually start skating, he had a bit of trouble even standing up. He grabbed the railing of the stairs and pulled himself up. He pushed off, but soon fell over. Again, he got up and tried to push off, but easily toppled over. "Bloody hell, these things are broken!" he complained.

Amy rolled her eyes and bent over. "If you tell me why you are in the castle and not at Hogsmeade, maybe I will teach you how to roller-skate," she suggested. "After all, I do owe you for that A on the teapot."

Malfoy glared at her a second, but soon gave in. "I am banned from this trip and possibly all others because of what I did to you," he muttered, embarrassed.

Amy flushed. "But… but you didn't know I had hay fever, making the combination of the potion and pollen even worse for me than others," she tried to console. "Besides, you"-

"Are you going to show me or what?" he interrupted.

Amethyst nodded, putting out a hand for him to pull himself up. Draco was hesitant to take it. "C'mon, do you trust me or not?" she asked, not as seriously as Draco took it. Yes, he trusted her; he would have loved to take hold of her hand. The question was did he trust himself to take it?

"Well, if you don't trust me, just watch me and then try yourself," Amy suggested. She began taking small steps with the heavy skates. "First, just pretend that you are walking," she told him. "Take easy steps. After a little of that, begin to glide." She put a little accent into how she said 'glide.' "After that you can"-

"Forget it," Draco cut short. "I don't need steps." He glided away from the wall. Amy was mildly impressed… until he tried to take another step and toppled right over.

Amy glided over to him and put out her hand one more time. "Just take my hand," she insisted. Draco looked at it, and then grabbed it, pulling himself up. "Now did the world end?" Amethyst asked. Draco shook his head. "Then let's try this again."

About half an hour later, Amy had finally gotten Draco to calm down and start listening to her. Soon afterwards he quickly learned how to skate. They were soon racing around school grounds.

"Show me around the castle?" asked Amy.

"What?" was Draco's perplexed reply.

"Please? Just one quick tour of the castle," implored Amy.

"Mm… oh all right," Draco finally gave in. "Come on, we only have an hour before the feast starts." With that the two raced off.

The two sped down one corridor with Draco leading. Suddenly as he turned a corner he rammed straight into Professor Dumbledore and Professor Flitwick. A bunch of blue Cornish pixies (which the Draco had not seen since the blundering Gildroy Lockhart had been their DADA professor in their second year) flew from a box dropped by small Professor Flitwick.

Amy managed to skid to a stop before she ran into anyone. However, her graceful stop did not prevent the pixies from attacking her. She began swatting wildly at them.

"Goodness, professors, I'm terribly sorry," Draco apologized in a VERY sincere voice, helping both of them up. He then skated through a storm of pixies to help Amy. With one hand he pushed the girl behind him and with the other he pulled out his wand, crying, "Immobularis!" The Cornish Pixies froze in midair.

"Once again, very sorry about the mess," apologized Draco before speeding off.

"I can't wait for your class tomorrow, Professor Flitwick!" Amy smiled, pointing at the pixies, before skating away.

Both Professor Flitwick and Professor Dumbledore simply exchanged very surprised glances before speaking.

"Am I correct in saying that was Mr. Malfoy with a _Gryffindor_ girl?" Flitwick asked in total shock.

"I believe so," answered Dumbledore, half amused.

The two whooshed down the halls some more, though they should have already learned not to be going so fast. Suddenly out of nowhere, Professor Snape walked out of one of the classrooms. Draco managed to nearly swerve around him, but Amy was not so lucky. She, unfortunately, ran accidentally over his foot.

"Professor Snape!" she gasped.

"You!" Professor Snape cried. "Detention for… whatever it is you are doing!"

Draco quickly skated back to Amethyst's side. "Sir, she's roller-blading, and she doesn't know that it is against the rules," he informed. "And if she is to be punished than so shall I."

"Mr. Malfoy," muttered Snape in his cool, monotonous tone. "Your record with me is clean, so you will go unpunished. However, do you see fit for her to go unpunished as well? I will allow you to be the decider. Let me remind you, however, that she is one of Mr. Potter's friends and at that, a likely rule breaker as well."

"Potter's friend or not, you should let her off with only a warning, with the exception of a few house points," Draco suggested.

"Very well," agreed Snape. "Five points from Gryffindor, and be thankful that Mr. Malfoy was here to stick up for you." With that he turned and walked away.

"Come on, two run-ins in under ten minutes. We better get back to out common rooms before it becomes three," Draco suggested, speeding away. Amethyst followed, but more slowly.

Draco slowed down and turned around, waiting for Amy to catch up. She was skating very slowly, deep in thought. "What's wrong?" he asked her.

She skated up to him and stopped right in front of him. His grayish blue eyes were filled with worry, which added more confusion to Amethyst's already mixed up thoughts. "Can I ask a maybe personal question?" she requested.

"Just how personal?" he asked, but he nodded in accordance.

"Why do you always act so bitter?" she questioned him.

The question struck him as odd, but partially truthful. "What makes you think that I'm not?" he replied.

Amy pointed down the hall to the teacher walking away. "That," she answered simply. "And Cornish Pixies, and the teapot, and the turtle I saw you stroke, and the white rose, and this," she added, holding a crumpled slip of paper between two of her fingers. Draco looked slightly confused. "Don't recognize it? Maybe I should read it to you," Amy said, opening the paper.

_ "I see the dripping silver and I pray, "Don't take her away." She is like an angel, her voice clear and beautiful as a bell. In her eyes I see a green fire. She can see through any liar." _

"Do I need to go on?" asked Amy, looking at Draco's horrified face.

"Where did you get that?" Draco seethed.

"The Cornish Pixies stole it from your pocket, and then I stole it back," she explained. "What is this all about, Malfoy? What is this?"

"Stop asking me questions," Draco muttered.

"Then answer my first one!" Amy snapped.

"Fine! You would be bitter, too, if every waking minute you wondered if you were pleasing your father or at least not bothering him to the brink until he wants to curse you with the Jelly-Legs like some house-elf. You would be bitter if no one got close enough to you to call you by your first name except those that fear you. And you most certainly would be bitter if the one thing you've been waiting for all your life is standing right in front of you, but you can't have it!" Draco retorted hotly.

Amy swallowed hard, looking straight into Draco's eyes. "No, I don't have to worry about my father punishing me, and no, I don't have to worry about my friendships. You're wrong about one thing. I can't have what is standing right in front of me," she told him.

"What?" gasped Draco, incredulously.

"Damn it, Malfoy. I think I know what it is you feel, and I think I feel it, too," Amy admitted. "But it doesn't matter. What I feel or what you feel, do you think anyone else cares? In half an hour, we'll be in the Great Hall, back to reality again. Did you not just hear what Professor Snape said to you? There are great walls between us. There's just one small example of reality." She began to skate away.

"Amethyst, wait, please," Draco insisted, grabbing her shoulder and turning her around.

"What? What can you say that will change everything and make everyone understand? What could you possibly say to make it ok to form our own ideas and emotions?" Amy asked.

"Nothing," Draco had to admit.

"Then what?" Amy demanded.

"Then this!" Draco cried, pushing her into the wall. He took her face and kissed her longingly. Every emotion that had been building up inside of him exploded at that moment.

"Oh gosh… oh my gosh…" Amy thought to herself. She wanted to resist, but something told her no. It felt too right to let go. He wasn't rough or forceful, but instead gentle, like the light she could see beyond his bitterness.

Suddenly he lifted his head, parting his lips from hers. Amy tried to catch her breath, but suddenly gasped. Hot breath pulsated against her neck. The next thing she knew, Draco was kissing her neck, gently biting her. 

"Draco…" she murmured. Her heartbeat grew faster and louder. She felt as though her heart would burst. This couldn't go on, and with that thought in mind, she pushed him away.

Draco stood back, knowing that he had gone too far. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," he apologized. He looked to where he had gotten out of hand. A red mark now lay on her neck.

Amy held her neck where the mark was. "You're right, you shouldn't have," she agreed angrily. She backed slowly away and turned around. "But thank you for being truthful with me, Draco."

Malfoy suddenly thought of something. "You called me Draco," he told her.

She looked over her shoulder. "That I did," she agreed, smiling weakly before skating off.

"She called me Draco," he mumbled to himself before skating back to his dorm.

Amy quickly raced back to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Her shoes were still by the stairs, but right now she could have cared less. The portrait was soon in sight and Amy skated harder towards it.

"Password?" asked the Fat Lady.

"Meningitis," Amy answered, out of breath.

"What's that on your neck?" inquired the Fat Lady.

Amy quickly slapped her hand over her neck. She had totally forgotten about the mark. "None of your bloody business," she answered tersely.

"I didn't mean to be nosy," the picture apologized, swinging to the side. "It's my job to ask questions."

Amethyst quickly stepped through the hole. No one was in the common room. "That was just a little too much passion," she sighed.

"What's this about passion?" inquired Hermione, spinning one of the chairs around.

"Passion… fruit," Amy quickly lied somehow. "I ate one too many passion fruit candies."

"Well, save your appetite for the Halloween feast," Ron called out from the top of the staircase. Both he and Harry walked down to greet her.

"What are you three doing back so early?" Amy inquired.

Harry gritted his teeth. "Crabbe stepped on Ron's foot in Hogsmeade."

"Stupid oaf almost crushed it!" Ron cried angrily.

"We had to come back to the castle to get Ron to Madam Pomfrey. Luckily she fixed it up in a jiffy," Hermione explained. "Even when Malfoy isn't around, those two are doing terrible things."

"What happened to your neck?" Ron asked.

Amy dared not remove her hand. "I got this terrible crick in my neck," she lied again.

"Oh, by the way, we got you some treats from Hogsmeade," said Harry, holding out a small bag for Amy. She took it, smiling as nonchalantly as possible. "So did you get that tour of the castle you were hoping for?" he asked.

"I got a lot more than I bargained for," Amy thought to herself. "Well, it certainly was an interesting one," she answered truthfully. "Oh, and that reminds me. Hermione I think I might slightly have a lead on something. I'll tell you about it during the feast." She walked slowly up to her room and thought, "Yeah, I'll tell you just as soon as I put on about a pound of concealer."

"If you asked me, she looked a bit snogged," said Harry. He looked accusingly at Ron.

"What? I didn't do anything! I was in the Hospital Wing. How could I have done anything, you and Hermione were there!" Ron retaliated.

"That's true," thought Harry. All three scratched their heads a minute until it looked like they got one of those huge cartoon light bulbs over their heads. "Seamus!"

Amy closed the door of the dorm. She walked over to the mirror and released her hand. "Yikes," she wheezed. She pulled out a compact and started working on it. Suddenly her bedside table caught her eye. On it was a quill and some parchment. She still had to write that letter to her parents.

"Oh, here's a good start," she muttered, "Dear Mom and Dad, today I got my first hickey."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


	5. Midnight Fox

5. A Midnight Fox 

For nearly a month, Amy avoided contact with Draco whatsoever. During classes she refused to even look at him. She could not lie to Harry and the others anymore. Now was the time to choose. Between Harry, her own flesh and blood, her twin, and Draco, Harry would have to win. Maybe Draco could just forget about it. After all, he had been doing a fairly good job of it before she taught him to skate.

At first, Draco did try to forget everything that happened, the Hospital Wing, the tour, and the kiss. He tried to tell himself that she had just been leading him on, playing him like some sort of a sap. But no, he couldn't allow that to happen to him. He needed to keep his pride about him.

But whatever he told himself, it all vanished when he took one look at her. He hated her! What had she done to him? Even the other Slytherins were starting to question him a bit. Why couldn't he just forget? Then one day the answer came to him.

He was deep in thought when suddenly he turned a corner and crashed into someone. But instead of scowling like he normally did, he simply swooped down and collected the books lying on the ground. As he stood up to return them his eyes widened slightly. Standing right before him was Harry and Hermione and Ron with Amy behind them. Were those Harry's books in his hands?

"Ah…" was all he could manage to say. For the second time that year he was unable to think of a snide remark. He simply shoved the books back and muttered, "Sorry," before quickly walking away.

"Was that Malfoy?" asked Hermione.

"Do you think that he is feeling alright?" questioned Harry.

"I'll bet he cursed your books," Ron scoffed.

Amy scowled at Ron, holding back the sudden urge to step down on his still hurting foot. She instead kept walking, deciding to give him a subtle cold shoulder for the day.

Draco peered around the corner to the four as the walked away. He slipped back and leaned against the wall. What was going on? Now he understood. He didn't hate her because she was playing him. He hated her for changing him and leaving before he could handle the changes.

***

Amy was sitting in her room reading "Hogwarts, A History", which Hermione had lent to her, when there was a quick rap upon the dormitory door. "Come in!" she called out.

Hermione opened the door, panting. "Good, you're here. I had previously thought that you were in library checking up on that unicorn theory, but Harry told me that you were still flipping through the book that I lent you."

"What's up, Hermione?" Amy inquired, looking at her friend's tired face.

"McGonagall is on the warpath. She's looking for you," Hermione told her.

"I haven't broken any rules today, though," said Amy. "In fact, I haven't done anything relatively bad since I went skating through the halls and got caught by Professor Snape."

"That isn't it. The school board is here today and she want to showcase some students to them," Hermione informed. "That means the students she finds the most impressive."

"Well, that's good for you Hermione, but I still don't see what this has to do with me," Amy replied.

"Well, she is showcasing me, but that's not it. She's showcasing you, Miss Animagus," Hermione updated.

Amy's mouth dropped about a foot. "You are joking me! She knows I can't hold my transformation, is she insane? I'll be embarrassed beyond belief I retransform in under ten seconds!" Amy cried.

"I know, just don't kill the messenger," winced Hermione.

"Um… just stall her or something," Amy said. She quickly closed the book and grabbed a sweatshirt, running out the door.

"What are you doing? Are you going outside? It is the first of December! It is SNOWING outside!" Hermione scolded.

"I'm going to train, maybe I can get my transformation to last just a little bit longer," Amy said. "Now are you going to help me or not?"

"What am I supposed to do?" shrieked Hermione.

"I don't know, ask Ron and Harry, they're the masters!" Amy cried over her shoulder, running out the door. "Ron's brothers are the infamous Weasley Twins, he should be able to think of something!"

"Your crazy! You aren't even wearing your school robes, and you're going onto school grounds?" said Hermione shrilly. Amy was already gone, though.

Surprisingly, it wasn't that cold outside, even with the snow falling to the ground. Amy threw her sweatshirt on the ground. "Ok, let's do this," she whispered to herself.

Draco looked outside to the gentle snow. The snowflakes were like his kinfolk. Some loved the snow for one day, but as soon as it hung around too long, they would forget all about it. The snow would melt, and few would ever care.

Then as he watched it fall to the ground, he noticed a figure standing very still. Suddenly, the person shrunk down into a small, black fox. "Amethyst?" he whispered. What she doing on that side of the school. He should have just stayed in his dorm, but he just had to talk to her, even for a short time.

He ran outside and onto the field. He could hear her cry, "Why isn't this working?"

"What are you doing?" he inquired. "You are on the Slytherin's side of the school."

"I'm trying to get my transformation to hold, but it isn't working!" she spat in frustration.

"Why don't you tell me about it," suggested Draco. "If you do, maybe I'll help you. After all, I do owe you for teaching me to skate… among other things."

"What a cruel irony," Amy sighed. "Fine. The school board is here today, and McGonagall plans to showcase some students, including me. However, I don't want to be the laughing stock of the board of education in England, so I'm trying to make my transformation last longer. I'm on this side of school because I figured it would be the last place she would look for me."

Draco nodded. Suddenly he began walking around her, surveying her. "You are too tense, you need to calm down. You expect too much of yourself." He stopped behind her. "Now close your eyes and just relax."

"You behind me and my eyes closed really don't mix," replied Amy cautiously. "Put your hands on my shoulders or something so I know you aren't doing something tricky." Draco wavered a bit before he placed his hands on her shoulders. Amy turned around and closed her eyes. "Alright, but I warn you, me being able to hold my transformation for ten seconds was like a gargantuan milestone."

"Shh…" he hushed her. "Just breathe deeply to calm yourself down at first. Slowly, in and out. Pretend that McGonagall and the school board don't matter, just totally forget about them." He listened to her breath calmly. She had actually obeyed him. Suddenly he noticed her shaking violently. "You are freezing."

"I'm fine," she shivered. "Just get on with it."

Draco partially closed the two-foot gap between them, hoping he could give off some body heat. He smiled when he noticed she stopped shaking quite as much. "Alright. Now, I want you to envision the black fox, every single detail about it. From the red tufts of fur to its tail, I want you to see it all."

She was still slightly shaking. "You were foolish to wear only a simple shirt and jeans when you came out here. You could've at least worn your school robes," Draco scolded.

"I am fine, Malfoy. You are breaking my concentration," Amy retorted fiercely.

Draco completely closed the gap between the two, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. He feared that Amy would resist, but she stayed still and for good reason. She had stopped shivering completely.

"Now see yourself and the fox as one entire entity," he directed her. This may have been too close for comfort. Damn, she smelled good. "Now, transform!" he commanded. He released his grip on her and stepped back.

On command, Amy began shrink down into the black fox. Draco counted for ten seconds. "You did it!" he congratulated. "Alright, I think you can turn back now." He waited, but she did nothing. She only stared up at him. 

"No…" he sighed, "You are joking me. What do you mean you can't turn back?" She whimpered and lied down. "Ok, ok. I'll help you out of this, too. Although… I'm resisting this urge to want to pet you," he chuckled. She immediately sat up and growled at him. "Hey, I was just kidding."

He crouched down in front of her. "Alright, just relax again and breath deeply. I would put my hands on your shoulders, but they're a little small, so you'll just have to trust me. Now just see yourself and the black fox separating. Now, transform!" he ordered.

Amy slightly miscalculated the transformation back. Her legs shot out and knocked Draco of his feet. He fell forward and barely caught himself. His face was inches away from Amethyst's.

Amethyst, who had fallen on her back, looked up. "You should be a psychologist," she joked. "But can you do me another quick favor?"

"Um… ok," answered Draco.

"Get your hand off my sleeve please," she told him. The two looked to one of his hands, which was situated next to her shoulder and pinning down her sleeve.

Draco slightly flushed, seeing her shoulder bare. Her skin was pale from the cold of the snow. He immediately released his hand. Suddenly he realized that he was right on top of her. He looked at her to see if she noticed, but she only smiled. He began leaning down, but he paused. He looked at her again. It seemed so strange; it was almost like he was looking at Harry. Kissing Harry… ugh…

Thinking of Harry brought something else up. If anyone knew he was lying in the snow with a Gryffindor, what might happen?

He sat up and moved aside. "I… I can't do this," he muttered. "I don't want to get you into trouble with Harry, he's your boyfriend after all."

"WHAT?" Amy cried. "You think… oh goodness. Heaven's to Murgatroid, you think he's my BOYFRIEND???" She grabbed his face. "Ok, Draco, look at me and tell me who you see."

"I see you," Draco answered, confused.

"No, look REALLY hard. Tell me who you see. Actually, tell me who you thought I was the first day that we met," Amy demanded.

"I called you Potter," Draco replied.

"Malfoy, think about it. I look like Harry, and I'm NOT dating him. Now put two and two together," Amy began to fume.

"You… you are Harry's SISTER?" Draco realized.

"Close, but not quite. I'm his TWIN," Amy corrected. She stood up. "So you don't want to get me in trouble NOW, but a month ago, it was ok to give me a hickey when you thought that I was DATING HARRY???" she shrieked.

"No! I bet it isn't even that. You are still scared of what everyone else might think, aren't you?" she accused. She knew she was correct when Draco didn't look at her. "You know what, so am I, but don't lie to me about it." She began walking away.

"Amethyst, please," Draco began.

"No! Stop it! I don't want to hear it anymore! Stop apologizing until you actually mean it!" she cried. She bolted back to the castle entrance. "Honestly, me dating Harry," she muttered, entering the portrait hole. "I think he'd die laughing if he heard that one."

***

For the next few days, Amy was starting to regret blowing up in Draco's face. As she looked to the other side of class, she noticed how pale and fragile he seemed. It almost broke her heart to see him in such desolation. Before class started, she nearly got up and walked to him, but Professor McGonagall stepped in her way.

"Well done, Miss Labadie. The governors were very impressed. They have even thought of funding a new program to teach some of the students your age to become Animagi!" Professor McGonagall congratulated. "What I wanted to know, however, was how did you manage to hold your transformation so much longer? Have you been training?"

Amy looked to where Draco sat. "Yes… I have…" she answered dolefully.

Later that evening, Amy skipped out on dinner and went straight to her dorm. Harry was slightly worried, but she lied and told him that she was just having a monthly visitor. When she was positive that she was alone, she pulled out the drawer of her bedside stand. In it lay a few things, a quill, some parchment, a picture of her parents, a white rose, and the poem Draco wrote. Draco had somehow forgotten to take it back from her.

She uncrumpled the parchment and lay back in her bed. On paper he was so amazingly sweet. His bitterness completely melted away. Or had it? Was this possibly his bitterness in another form? What had she done to him?

Suddenly there came a sharp tapping sound, snapping her out of her daze. She quickly put the poem back into the drawer and shut it. "Come in," she called out absentmindedly. She looked to the door, but no one came through. "Is anyone there?" she asked, looking outside. The entire place was deserted.

"That's odd," she mumbled, closing the door. When she turned around she gasped. Draco was standing right before her. "How did you get in here?"

"I knocked on your window, not on your door. Really, you should get your ears checked," Draco told her. Then looking at the still confused look on her face he added, "I used a standard Alohamora charm. I hope the queen of Animagi at least learned so much as an unlocking spell in her first year."

"What are you doing here? This morning in Transfiguration you looked half dead. I would've thought you never wanted to speak to me again," said Amy.

"Well… I'm sort of here to return this to you," he said, holding up the sweatshirt she had brought with her. "And I wanted to talk to you. I thought about what you said to me the other day. I really was being a bit of a pig, wasn't I?" He put a single hand on her arm; wanting to know the warmth she gave him, running through his veins once more.

"Malfoy, you don't know what you are doing," Amy protested. "Look what I'm doing to you… I don't want to hurt you anymore," she thought.

"No… you don't understand. For once in my life I DO know what I'm doing," Draco smiled.

"Don't let me hurt you again you idiot," Amy screamed in her head. "No! Stop, get out of here!" she screamed.

"Amy?" asked Hermione, opening the door. "What's going on? I could hear you screaming all the way from the portrait hole! Are you ok?"

Amy looked from the open door to where Draco was standing. However, he was no longer standing there. The room was empty but for her and Hermione. Maybe she had just been dreaming. "A bat flew in the window," she lied.

Hermione shook her head. "Stop opening the window. Do you want to catch your death?"

"Sorry, Herm," Amy apologized. "Why aren't you at dinner?"

"Oh, that's right, I was coming back from the library and I wanted to know if you wanted me to get you anything from dinner tonight," Hermione explained.

"No… I'm fine," Amy answered. After Hermione left, Amy slowly sat down on her bed. What exactly had just happened? Had she been imagining the ENTIRE scenario? She couldn't possibly be THAT creative… could she? She took out the poem and the rose and looked at them one more time before climbing into bed. Some sleep was all she needed, right?

***

It was very dark. Draco could hardly find his wand as he unlocked the window for a second time. He slowly climbed through and looked around. The room was pitch black. "Lumos," he muttered. A small light appeared at the end of his wand.

There she was, lying sound asleep in bed. He walked over, making sure not to make a single sound. At least he tried not to. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the white rose on top of the dresser. He slightly gasped. She had kept it after all.

"Damn me for not loving her the first day I met her," he muttered.

"Draco…" Amy mumbled.

Draco quickly covered his mouth and looked to the girl. She was still sleeping, just talking her sleep. He let out a small sigh of relief. But he wondered something, why had she spoken his name?

He put a hand gently on her forehead, and then took out his wand again. "Nocturne Apparatium," he muttered. Swiftly, he was transported inside of her dream.

He opened his eyes to find that he was in some chamber of some sort. In fact, they seemed like the chambers of royalty. Actually… unless he was quite mistaken, they were HIS chambers! Draco was lying in a great bed surrounded by great black and silver drapes. Was he dead? No, if he were dead, he would not have been able to enter the dream.

"Prince Draco, I'm so sorry," cried a girl wearing a simple garment, something a peasant would have worn.

"Take the witch away," ordered a bulky guard. Two huge soldiers took the peasant by the arms and began dragging her away. Surprisingly, she did not resist.

"Prince Draco? Amethyst?" Draco asked, sitting up. "Crabbe? Goyle?" he recognized the guards. Where were they taking her? He looked out the window and spotted a huge crowd around a large stage and atop the stage a great noose. "I have a feeling I know where…"

He scampered from the bed. "Crabbe, Goyle, halt!" he shouted, running down a hall after them. The two immediately halted. "Release her!" he demanded.

"But sire," Crabbe began to protest.

"NOW!" 'Prince' Draco bellowed. They instantly dropped the girl.

She bowed down before him. "You are well so fast?" Amethyst asked without raising her head.

He had been sick in the first place? What an odd dream this was beginning to be. "I am well, but tell me, how did I become so ailed?" he asked.

"I brought this upon you. I have injured the prince greatly, and so allow your guards to take me to my fate in the gallows," Amethyst answered solemnly. 

Crabbe and Goyle went to take her arms again, but Draco stopped them. "Did I tell you that you could take her? I don't think so! Now depart!" he ordered angrily. Without question the two left. Malfoy hid a small smile. He could get used to this.

"Your highness, I don't mean to question your judgment, but what are you doing? I am not only a simple girl, but I am not pureblood, and I am the sister of your greatest foe," muttered Amethyst, still on the floor. "Call back your guards, I have done nothing but hurt you since we have met, my lord," she told him.

Draco circled her. "It is true that you have hurt me some, but I knowingly injure myself as well. Besides, I have hurt you countless times as well," he told her. "No, I will not call back my guards. I have thought of a more befitting punishment."

"What would be more suitable then what has already been assigned?" Amethyst question.

Draco knelt before her and lifted her chin. He looked into her emerald eyes and wondered what had been going through his mind at the beginning of the year. "To endure my love for eternity." Slowly, he brought her face forward and kissed her once more.

Draco opened his eyes to find himself back in the spare girls' dorm. He also found that his empty vessel had taken the liberty of kissing the real Amethyst. Amethyst's eyes began to flutter open. At first she was slightly drowsy, but soon she regained all consciousness. Her eyes widened ten-fold. When Draco realized he was still kissing her he slightly lifted his head.

"Draco?" Amy gasped. Draco smiled and nodded. "Where is my shirt?" she asked.

"Um… you are wearing it?" Draco answered, slightly confused.

"I am wearing it WHERE?" she added.

"On your torso?" Draco replied.

"Where are my pants?" Amy continued.

"You are wearing them," Draco replied, and then to avoid any more questions than needed he added, "On your bottom."

Amy nodded and smiled. "Good," she nodded. "Let's keep it that way." She pushed him hard and jumped out of bed. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"You dare demand something of a prince?" Draco smiled, regaining his balance.

"You… you were in my dream!" Amy seethed. "There goes the last bit of my privacy!"

Draco slightly chuckled. "Oh come on, you know you aren't THAT angry at me for entering your dream."

"What part of, "Stop, get out of here." don't you understand?" Amy asked. "Can't you see what I'm doing to you?" she finally admitted. "You've lost your composure, your pride, your health all for the sake of your greatest foe's twin sister."

Draco walked forward, making Amy walk backwards until she bumped into a bedpost. He pinned her arms to either side and leaned his forehead against hers. "The only thing I've lost is my loneliness, my only reason to be bitter," he cooed. "As for my health, I simply went on a quick one day diet," he joked. "I have never found someone quite like you, and if I searched the world, I'm sure I would never find a pureblood like you."

"I am ill-tempered and you may tire of me quickly," Amy protested, her breathing pattern growing shallow and quick.

"I am ill-tempered as well. I will never tire of you. But I suppose I will only have to tame you, my wild midnight fox," he smiled. He gently released his pinion on her arms.

Amy looked up into his stormy eyes. Suddenly she pulled her head to the side, sending his slamming into the wall. "That was for entering my room TWICE by the window at night!" she cried.

She then cuffed his jaw with almost all her might. "That was for manipulating me in my dream!" she added.

She grabbed his collar. Fearing she was going to head-butt his already throbbing forehead, he winced and closed his eyes. "And this is for being the most wonderful person I have met in my entire life," she cooed. She tenderly kissed his lips.

Draco smiled, feeling their emotions swirling his a head like some sort of psychedelic experience. Suddenly he could her warmth escape her body as she began shivering slightly. He pulled out. "You are shivering. In the middle of winter, you wear nothing to sleep but a spaghetti-strap tank top and a pair of pajama pants. You seem to have no fear of weather. Do you want to catch a cold?"

"You are beginning to sound like Hermione. First of all, it is only the beginning of December. Second of all, if you are so worried, then you warm me up," she suggested, not realizing how Draco would take it.

"That I will," he grinned, pushing her down on the bed. He sat on top of her legs. He then leaned down and began to kiss her neck once more, slowly and gently biting, working his way down to her collarbone.

"Draco…" Amy murmured. "Are you sure this is what you want…"

"I have never been so sure in my life," he whispered, his fingers slowly crawling up her stomach…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 


	6. Break My Heart

6. Break My Heart 

Harry giggled in his sleep. Something felt nice for some reason. He slowly opened his eyes to see Malfoy sitting on top of him. "GAH!!!" he screeched. He began swiping madly in front of him as the image disappeared. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT???" he cried.

"Harry, what's going on?" Ron asked drowsily.

"Go back to sleep, Harry, you must have had a nightmare," Seamus said angrily.

At first Harry thought it was just a dream. "No, this was too realistic to be just a nightmare… but what could it have been?" he thought aloud. Suddenly it came to him. He raced out of bed. "PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL!" he bellowed, running toward her quarters.

Without warning, the door of the spare girls' dorm swung open. "Mr. Malfoy! Miss Labadie?" Professor McGonagall screeched.

The two quickly sat up. "Nothing happened!" Amy began to protest.

"Nothing happened… NOTHING HAPPENED?" the professor repeated in outrage. "Look at your neck and tell me that nothing happened!" A fresh trail of red marks had appeared on Amy's neck. "In all my years of teaching, NEVER have I seen such behavior! I would have expected better from you, Miss Labadie. 60 points from Slytherin for being out of your quarters after hours and in the Gryffindor spare girls' dormitory, no less. 50 points for letting any of this go on! I just hope that you didn't…"

"NO!" Amy shrieked. "Nothing like that happened."

"Just in case, both of you come with me. We are going straight to Headmaster Dumbledore on the matter," Professor McGonagall insisted. The two followed her out the door.

Before Draco could leave the room, Harry stepped in front of him. "If you did anything to my sister, Malfoy, I'll personally make sure that you aren't well enough to play Quidditch ever again," he hissed.

"Step off, Potter, your sister is still a virgin," Malfoy snapped.

"Potter, back to your dorm," McGonagall ordered.

When the three reached the headmaster's office, surprisingly he did not seem the least bit drowsy, only somewhat disappointed.

"Do you realize the seriousness of the situation?" he asked them both.

"I did NOT sleep with her!" Draco insisted.

"Mr. Malfoy, please keep a civil tone," Professor McGonagall began to protest.

"Spell check me for all I care, nothing happened between us! Ok, bad choice of words. I kissed her, and I'm sure you've given a girl a hickey before, Professor Dumbledore, haven't you???" he cried out angrily. 

He was in awed when Dumbledore did not give him a week's worth of detention for the comment. Instead, he only answered calmly. "As true as that may be, I don't appreciate students gallivanting at night. It is not proper for students of your age to be found in a dorm of the opposite sex. And as for a spell, I will take your word for it," he informed them. "She doesn't look nearly frazzled enough," he thought to himself. "Do you two understand me completely?"

"Yes, professor," the two answered solemnly.

"Now, if you two would be so kind as to wait a few moments, Professor McGonagall and I will think of your punishment," he said, standing up and walking into another room.

Amy and Draco say quietly in the office, not exchanging any words or even any glances. Draco wondered if Amy was ashamed. Amy wondered if his family would punish Draco for all of this.

"I'm sorry," the two said exactly at the same time.

"What for?" Amy asked first.

"For all the Gryffindors who are going to gawk at your neck tomorrow," Draco smirked. "What are you sorry about?"

"For a sound lashing that you are going to get when you get back home," Amy answered. "I pressured you into this."

Draco shook his head. "You did not pressure me into any of this. We both did this knowing what could happen. And I don't regret it," he told her. "I"-

He did not have a chance to finish. Both professors walked back into the office with a bottle at hand. They handed one bottle of a strange, cloudy orange mixture. "Drink," Professor McGonagall said simply. The two teens hesitantly downed the concoction. Luckily it had a sweet taste.

"Now, Miss Labadie, I want you to touch Mr. Malfoy on the arm," Professor Dumbledore instructed. She did as she was told. As her finger came in contact with his flesh, she felt a sharp feeling run through her arm. Draco felt as well as the two were pushed backwards about a foot. "That was the effect of the Electric Elixir," Professor Dumbledore explained.

"Every time you two come in contact with each other, you feel a small shock and then be sent backwards. The harder or longer you touch, the more painful the shock and the farther back you are shot. If you attempt to even say each other's name, you will feel a small shock," Professor McGonagall explained.

"That's not fair, what about all those blokes in the Astronomy Tower?" Draco protested.

"They are not in the dorm of the opposite sex, Mr. Malfoy," Professor McGonagall answered coldly. "Now, back to bed with both of you. Your OWN bed, I might add."

As the two left, Headmaster Dumbledore looked to Professor McGonagall. "Do you think we are being to harsh? After all, this is the third time someone was caught in another dorm or another house's tower."

"And each time the same punishment was used. Although, I have to say, the first pair was a bit of an exception," Professor McGonagall smirked, looking to the blushing headmaster.

***

The next day, the story of the previous night's events got quickly throughout the entire school. Just about every student had heard about "Draco Malfoy sneaking into Harry Potter's sister's room and having a snog-fest." In fact, the story ran strong for about a week, like the little trail of red marks on Amy's neck.

Amy tried to keep her head high and ignore what everyone kept saying, but it was hard when most of her peers in Gryffindor totally ignored and shunned her. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were far too shocked to say a word to her.

Draco, however, had somehow become a hero to the Slytherins. They had managed to make up their own version of the story.

"That was absolutely terrific!" Blaise cheered.

"What are you talking about?" Malfoy asked him in confusion.

"Don't act like you don't know!" Pansy laughed. "You totally set up that girl and fed her to the wolves."

"At first we were wondering if you had done a 180° on us, boss," Crabbe said.

"But when we heard about this we knew you had a plan all along, one even better than the beard," Goyle finished.

Draco began to protest. "No, wait you"-

"You rat!" cried a voice behind him. Someone tugged on the sleeve of his robes and spun him around. It was Amethyst. "Is this true? You lied to me, yet again!"

"No, they've go it wrong," Draco tried to say, but his comrades drowned his voice out.

"You bet he did!" Millicent giggled.

Amethyst looked like she was going to die right on the spot. "Give me one good reason not to turn into a fox and eat out your heart," she seethed. "Oh, wait. I've already got one. I can't, since you apparently don't have a heart."

"No, please, Amethyst, you aren't going to believe them, are you?" Draco tried to ask, but he hardly managed to get her name out before feeling the shock in his mouth.

"I don't want to hear anymore lies from you!" she screeched. From her pocket she pulled something out. It was the white rose. "I hope you find someone just as cruel as you one day. Give this to her." She threw it to the ground with all her sorrow and anger. The dry petals fell off on impact.

Draco's heart shattered with the rose. He couldn't think of anything to say as his throat grew a lump in the middle. As he turned to look at her she walked right up to him and punched his jaw. As the her hand landed on her jaw the two felt a sharp shock run through their bodies as they flew backwards into opposite sides of the hallway.

He slowly stood up and brushed himself off. "You risked getting thrown back into a wall and shocking yourself to punch me?" he inquired unbelievingly.

"It was worth it to feel my fist make contact with your jaw and then see you sent sprawling back," Amy seethed through tears, running away.

Draco contemplated staying and basking in the limelight of the other Slytherins or chasing after her, but someone pulled him back. "Good job, jerk," hissed Harry. "I still think she was crazy for caring, because what she saw in you, I have no clue. You played her, just like you play EVERYONE."

"Don't flatter me, Potter," Draco spat back. "She didn't care for me. If she did, she wouldn't have listened to them. Besides… I don't really care for her either, the only friends I need are standing around me," his mind whispered as he tried to lie to himself. "You think your sister would've ever really cared for the enemy of her twin brother?"

"Yes, I do, and here comes the reason right now," Harry told him, pointing to Dumbledore, who was walking there way.

"Mr. Malfoy a word with you?" he asked.

"Sure… anything to get me away from Potter," Malfoy muttered.

He followed the headmaster into an empty room. "Mr. Malfoy, it has come to my attention, well, no, actually let me get straight to the point. You may attend Hogsmeade trips for the rest of the year," Professor Dumbledore informed him.

"I am? Why?" Draco asked, but then hoped his protest would not cause a change.

"It's a bit of a long story, care to sit?" suggested Dumbledore. The two took seats at one of the tables.

"I was sitting at my desk reading through the morning paper. You know, that serial killer hasn't struck recently, but they are still searching. Suddenly your young friend came running into my office.

"'Please let him go,' she panted.

"At first I had absolutely no clue what she was talking about. She looked a bit tired, it seemed like she had run from Gryffindor Tower all the way to my office, so I let her rest up a bit before I asked what did she mean. When she finally finished taking her hands off her knees she pulled something from her pocket. I was amazed to see that it was a white rose.

"'Thank you, but bribery won't take that spell off of you or Draco,' I told to her half jokingly.

"She smiled and slightly laughed. 'No, that's not what it is for. Please let Draco go to the winter Hogsmeade trip,' she pleaded. Suddenly she grabbed her mouth, obviously feeling the static shock from the potion.

"'Amethyst, you really are in no position to be talking about him,' I suggested, but she ignored me.

"She proceeded to explain. 'No, you don't understand. Don't punish him for giving me the beard or making me sick. He didn't know. Besides, two days after I was sent to the Hospital Wing he came to see me and apologized with everything in his heart. This is the proof. This white rose is around two months old. Check it if you must, but just let him go,' she insisted.

"What was I to do? The mixed look of sorrow and pity on her face was too genuine to be lying. And so I'm allowing you pass to the rest of the year's Hogsmeade trips," Professor Dumbledore explained.

"Thank you, professor," Draco thanked despondently.

"Is there something the matter, Draco?" Dumbledore asked. "Because of this displeases you I can always reassign the punishment."

"No, it's nothing like that," Draco slightly laughed. He wondered if Dumbledore knew that the rose was now sitting in the hallway in pieces on the floor, probably being trampled on by hundreds of passer-by.

"Well, good afternoon then," Professor Dumbledore said. "Oh, and just to let you know, this doesn't mean I'm taking the spell off you two." With that he left.

Draco slumped back into the seat. "Even if you did, she'll never say my name again, let alone touch me," he sighed.

***

Amy raced back to Gryffindor Tower, screaming the password as she approached the portrait. The Fat Lady quickly swung aside, which was good, because Amy had not slowed down a bit. She kept running until she was all the way back to her dorm. When she got there, she slammed the door shut and threw her books at the ground.

"Oh, good, I was wondering when you would get here," said a voice from the window.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who had chased Amy from the spot in the hall where she and Draco had their big fight, heard a great scream as they entered the common room.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE YOU GREAT BIG SOGGY ZUCCHINI BREAD??? HELP ME! THERE'S A STRANGE MAN AND A SHRIVELED RAISIN-LIKE MUNCHKIN IN MY ROOM!" she screeched at the top of her lungs.

They quickly raced to her dorm and shoved open the door. "Sirius?" the three asked.

"Well this is an interesting welcome from my goddaughter," Sirius Black thought, folding his arms.

"Your… you are Sirius Black?" Amy questioned unbelievingly. "You are Harry's godfather?"

"And yours too unless I'm quite mistaken," Sirius added.

Amy's jaw slightly dropped. "You look so familiar," she told him.

"Wanted posters for my capture hang all around the world I am sure," Sirius suggested.

"Well, yes, but you look more familiar than just that. The last I saw you, your hair was much shorter and you had on… a white bib of some sort… You were at our birth!" she finally declared.

Sirius look mildly impressed. "You remember that far back? You have Lily's memory, but James' eyes." Both of them stood there awkwardly for a minute. "Uh… I don't know if you are accustomed to hugging or not…"

Amy's eyes grew bright. "Of course I am! I just wasn't sure if you were!" she cried, running over to hug him.

"Well, that explains the strange man, but a raisin-like munchkin?" asked Hermione.

"That would be Dobby," said a small man with big pointy ears and pink tinged skin walked from behind a bed. "Dobby was wanting to help Harry Potter's godfather get into the room," he explained. "Dobby also was wanting to meet Harry Potter's twin."

Amy turned around and knelt down. "Nice to meet you, Dobby," she smiled. She then turned to head to Harry and mouthed, "Who is this???"

"Dobby, this is Amethyst Labadie, my sister. Amy, this is Dobby the house elf," Harry introduced.

"A house elf?" repeated Amy.

"You've never heard of a house elf before?" Ron inquired.

"Well… yes, but there aren't any in America. They banned that the same time as they banned African American Slavery," Amy explained.

"I told you it was a bad idea," Hermione muttered. Harry and Ron did their best to ignore her. After her fourth year campaign against house-elves, Ron and Harry decided just to overlook whenever Hermione brought up the subject.

"Amy, as much as we hate to break up this happy reunion, but we have to talk to you," Harry interrupted.

"Oh… about…that…" Amy sighed, sitting on the bed.

"Yes, about that," Harry replied, taking a seat next to her. "Why didn't you just tell us?"

"Why didn't she just tell you what?" asked Sirius. The four teens looked from one to the other. Finally Amy got up the courage and told him. "You did that with the son of Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape's prized student?"

Amy nodded, embarrassed. "I didn't tell you because I knew that you would tell me that I was stark raving mad for ever thinking that there was possibly some good in him. He seemed to be a fragile child in the shell of an arrogant man. I thought maybe he just… was pressured by his father, who apparently abuses him, unless that was a lie too," she sighed.

"Well, we still think you are a bit mad," agreed Ron.

"Ron!" Hermione snapped.

Sirius knelt down in front of her and took her hand. "You know, your mother and father met that way," he told her.

"Dad wasn't in Slytherin and neither was Mom," Harry recalled.

"True, but when we first got to school, they were absolute enemies. They hated each other on every level. Your mom thought your dad was a stupid show off on a broom and you dad thought your mom was a book geek. But, the truth was that they admired each other greatly. It was a good thing they had me for a friend or they never would've found out," Sirius explained with pride. "So maybe he was playing you, but deep down, um… VERY deep down, he may admire you yet."

"You could have at least told us," said Hermione. "We would have listened," she told her, then looking at Ron she added, "Maybe."

Suddenly something started beeping. Sirius looked to a watch like band around his wrist. "Sorry, times up. Ok, Dobby, I'm ready to go. I'm sorry we didn't get more of a chance to chat, Amethyst, but you can owl me. Oh, that reminds me." He handed her a slip of paper.

Amy took the paper as she said to him, "Actually… it's a hawk." She looked at he paper. "A Hogsmeade permission slip!" She looked up to thank him, but he was gone. "Where did he go?"

"It's a Sirius thing," Harry smiled, hugging Amy by the shoulders.

***

Harry and Hermione walked aimlessly through the streets of Hogsmeade while Ron and Amy were wandering through Honeydukes, Ron marveling at his companion's sweet tooth. The two sneakily grabbed "free samples" while no one was watching and laughed at themselves for their childish behavior.

"Ron, don't look up," Amethyst giggled.

"Why?" Ron was ready to ask when the girl placed a kiss on his cheek. He turned beet red as Amy answered him.

"Ok, you can look up now," she laughed. Mistletoe hung right above them.

Draco was trying to persuade a younger student to buy an acid pop when he spotted the two friends. He smirked. "Giving charity around the holidays, Potter?" he sneered, walking towards them. "I'll have you warn you, however, Weasley is going to need a lot more than just that if ever wanted to support his pauper family."

Ron looked ready to jump Malfoy when Amy took up her cool voice from the beginning of the year and replied. "Look around you, sweetie, this store is a mine of mistletoe. In fact… I think that you have a customer waiting, Malfoy." She pointed behind him.

Draco nearly gagged as an old crone kissed, more like slobbered, his cheek. "Ugh! Get away!" he cried.

Ron and Amy laughed uncontrollably as they ran out of the store to avoid any more confrontation. When they got far enough from the store, they stopped to catch their breath. After they finished panting they began bursting into peels of laughter once more.

"That was bloody funny!" Ron laughed. "We have to tell Hermione and Harry about that one!"

"Oh look!" Amy pointed. "Its them at the entrance to Dervish and Banges!" The two began to make their way through the crowd when Amy heard something. She quickly spun around to see what it was, but nothing was there. Thinking she was either paranoid or still too happy about what had just happened, she shook it off.

"Harry, the greatest thing since Mad-Eye Moody just happened in Honeydukes!" Ron cried as he made his way to his friends.

"Did someone turn Malfoy into a bouncing gummy ferret and bite off his head?" asked Harry half hopingly.

"Close, but even better!" Ron exclaimed.

"Tell us on the way to the castle," said Hermione. "It's getting really late and terribly cold!" The four began to walk toward the castle when Amy stopped. "Aren't you coming?" Hermione asked.

Amy threw a look over her shoulder and then turned back. "Yes, I just wanted to look for something for my parents, though," she lied. "I'll catch up with you later, ok?" The others nodded and she ran off. When she finally slowed down she was standing in front of the Shrieking Shack. "What do you want?" her mind asked.

"Come to me…" a voice cooed.

Amy took a few steps forward, vanishing into the crowds of people. When the crowd cleared, she had vanished. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


	7. Into the Hall

7. Into the Hall 

That night, Harry tossed and turned in his sleep. He was having one of the strangest dreams of the century. It took place in the woods where he was following something. At first he thought it was a stag or just his Patronous, but as he got closer he realized that it was a unicorn. The poor beast was bleeding profusely; Harry could tell because he had seen a bleeding unicorn in his first year.

Suddenly the unicorn began to transform, its front legs thinning, the spine shrinking, all until finally the unicorn became a person. Harry gasped, realizing the unicorn had become his sister. For some odd reason she was still bleeding sliver instead of red. Then Harry looked around to see that the woods too had changed and become a dank dungeon-like place.

Harry began to walk forward toward Amy when a gate came crashing down before him. Suddenly a great dark figure appeared behind Amy. Harry tried to call out to her, but she couldn't understand for some reason.

"AMY!" Harry called out. He sprang up and awake. Dawn had hardly come, but Harry was too excited to go back to sleep. He had not seen Amy since the other night when she said she had to find a gift. Harry and the others had tried to wait, but soon fell asleep. Harry caught his breath and settled down a bit before going back to sleep.

"Just a dream…" he muttered to himself, ignoring a small tinge of pain on his scar.

***

"EUREKA!" Hermione cheered at the top of her lungs.

"What is it, Herm," Ron groaned, still very sleepy as he tried to shove some cereal into his half open mouth.

"I was flipping through books on unicorns when I wondered, 'I wonder if Amy is finished with Hogwarts a History yet?' so I checked her room, but she was gone. I looked to the desk to find it opened to a page about the Shrieking Shack when I noticed a small footnote for the first time. Under the information about the Shrieking Shack it said something such as 'See Essence' and I remembered that unicorns had essence and…" Hermione explained.

"Get on with it!" Ron and Harry cried.

"Right, so I looked through the library for books on essence and this is what I found," Hermione finished, tossing a very dusty book onto the table.

"You trying to give me emphysema?" Ron complained, wiping some dust away from the front cover. It read "The Legend of the Hall of Essence." As the three finished breakfast, they left the Great Hall.

"Yes, it's very fascinating," said Hermione taking the book back. "Now onto another subject, where is Amy?" Hermione questioned Harry.

"You mean you haven't seen her since last night?" Ron asked. Both friends shrugged.

"No," Harry replied. He looked to the other end of the corridor. "And I think I know where I might be able to find some answers. Suddenly, he took off, racing down to what he had been looking at. "Malfoy!" he cried, shoving the blonde haired boy against the wall.

"Harry!" Hermione shrieked, chasing after him. "What makes you think that he's done anything???"

Completely ignoring Hermione, Harry seethed, "Where is my sister?"

With no emotion, Draco looked straight at Harry and said, "You had the same dream, didn't you?"

Harry released him. "How did you get that dream?" he whispered.

"You have connection with her because you are twins, you are of the same blood," Draco told him. "I saw the hall because I… because I just did," he said simply.

"The hall?" Ron asked, ignoring the last bit of Malfoy's comment

"The Hall of Essence is where Amethyst has been taken, no doubt," Draco replied.

"How do you know about the hall from a single dream?" inquired Hermione.

Malfoy sighed. "Please, I would have thought that by now you three goofs would know what kind of access I have to the Dark Arts and the legends of evil wizards and such," he crossed his arms.

"So what exactly is this hall?" asked Ron.

***

"The Hall of Essence," whispered the cloaked figure, putting Amy's inert body on the ground. "Welcome to your new home, or should I say the last place you will ever live? Ennervate," he laughed, waving a wand over her body.

Suddenly she sprang to life. "Where am I?" she demanded. Seeing the hooded man, she directed her question once more, this time to him. He stayed silent. "Tell me or I will be forced to curse you!" she threatened, reaching into her coat pocket.

"Looking for this?" he hissed, pulling out her redwood wand.

"Give that back to me!" she screeched, lunging for his hand. However, the man simply disappeared and reappeared outside a cage. Amy went flying into the cage bars. "Temper, temper young lady. You are in the Hall of Essence." With that he began to walk away.

"Let me out of here!" Amy cried, shaking the bars.

The man sighed. "Why can't they all be quiet?" he shook his head. "I will open the doors in due time, when it is your turn to visit the basins. But until then." He quickly spun around and threw some sort of powder into the cell. "Enjoy the last place you will ever set living eyes on."

Amy began to cough. "What is this stuff?" she asked, sliding slowly downwards.

"Imperious powder. Doesn't work quite as fast as an Imperious curse, but it lasts two times as long and works ten times as effectively," the figure answered as she slumped down. "I'll be back for you after I've finished with my next sacrifice."

***

"The hall was meant to be an alternative to killing a unicorn," Hermione read aloud to the others. "Instead, a young girl would be taken, something less pure, so the punishment would not be so high."

"It works just the same," Draco added. "Five basins surrounded the sacrifice, turning her blood close to as pure as unicorn's blood. Someone would then drink her blood dry."

"I don't understand, what kept people everywhere from slaughtering young girls for their blood to turn them immortal?" Ron inquired.

"There was a small catch," Draco answered. "The girl had to have… um… a lesion about the neck."

"Lesion?" repeated Harry.

Hermione coughed loudly, "Hickey."

"Then why didn't this guy just go to Miami or something, I'm sure they get hickeys there everyday," Ron snickered.

"Because, idiot, the hickey had to originate from true love," Draco snapped. "Did I not emphasize the word PURE. But who would want to use the Hall of Essence? It would take maybe 12 victims to equal one unicorn."

"Besides," added Hermione, trying to keep Ron from beating Draco's face in, "The girl had to be of partial Muggle origin. Any pureblooded witch would not work."

"I still don't understand the point of the Shrieking Shack. What does it have to do with any of this?" asked Harry.

"The Shrieking Shack was one original ceremonial point for the Essence to be drained," replied Hermione. "In fact, it was one of five original points. There was one in Brazil, France, England, Japan, and America."

Harry put the pieces together, "So you think…"

"Yes, I do."

"Then we must go tonight," Harry said.

Draco disagreed. "No, if we go, then we go now."

"Now???" the three echoed. "We are hardly ready!"

"If we wait, whoever is doing this may already finish his or her deed. If we go as soon as possible, we stand a chance of making it before he even notices she is gone," the blond haired Slytherin explained.

Harry sighed, but nodded. "Alright, I'm in." Hermione nodded as well. However, Ron had to decline.

"Now is not exactly the best time for me…" he told them embarrassed. "I have a detention in about 10 minutes and Snape will fillet my derriere if I am not there."

Malfoy's jaw dropped. "Unbelievable! Your stupid detention is more important than this girl? Why can't you just ditch it? Or are you just a bloody coward?" he accused.

"That's it!" Ron cried. He lunged at Draco and began punching wildly at him.

"Ron, Malfoy, knock it off!" Harry bellowed as he and Hermione desperately tried to pull the two apart.

"No!" Ron screeched. "Why should we even trust him? For all we know he could be the one that gave Amy to the guy to kill! How do we know he is not just leading us into some big elaborate trap? We don't even know how he had that bloody dream he claims to have had!" he accused Draco. 

"Fine!" Draco yelled, backing off. "You want to know why I know and why I had that dream? Its because"-

***

"He obviously loves you," the man informed a half conscious Amy. "It would not work any other way. In fact I'll show you what I mean." He wiped a single finger across one of the random dead girls' neck, picking up a small trail of silver. "Had this been just some act of simple lust, the blood would not have turned silver and I would not have been able to detect it."

"Yes, my lord," Amy replied tonelessly, apparently under the Imperious curse. However, the word 'love' quietly reverberated in the back of her mind.

***

"I was looking up all the information about the disappearances because I was trying to protect her by any means possible. I care about her, more than you'll ever comprehend," Draco finally admitted.

The three looked to him, stunned. Harry began to say, "Malfoy… I never realized…"

"Are we going or not?" demanded Draco.

Harry nodded. "We need to get a few things first," he said. He ran towards Gryffindor Tower, the others following close behind.

"Wait here," Hermione told Draco, entering the portrait hole. When the three came out again they had in their arms a long cloak, the book on the hall, and a pair of rubber gloves.

"Here," Harry told Draco, handing him the gloves.

"What are these?" Draco asked, eyeing them.

"In case you have to touch Amy in any way, these should prevent any shock hopefully," explained Hermione.

"Now may we go?" Draco questioned impatiently.

Harry nodded, then silently signaled for them to follow. The four quickly tiptoed down the corridor to a statue of an old crone with a hump. He then looked around to make sure no one was around, then pulled out his wand and tapped on the hump while muttering, "Dissendium!" Suddenly, the statue moved just enough for one body to jump through.

"How long have you known how to do that?" Draco asked, trying to hide his great surprise.

"Third year," Harry answered before lunging into the hole. Hermione followed.

Draco gulped slightly before going, but before he could move, Ron grabbed his shoulder. "If you don't get her out, I'll personally make sure your family goes bankrupt and you have to live in a box," he warned.

"You mean one like yours?" Draco smirked before hopping through.

"Lumos," he heard Harry and Hermione muttered. Draco followed suit. "We'd best hurry," Harry told Draco, "This is a long walk."

Soon enough the three made it to the end of the tunnel. Harry quietly pushed up the trapdoor and looked around. Draco gasped, realizing that they were right under Honeydukes.

"So this is how you got into Hogsmeade in our third year. You do realize, Potter, I could get you into more trouble than ever when they find out you've been doing this," he muttered.

"Save Amy first, tattle-tale later," Harry replied, scanning the area. He hurriedly signaled for the others to make a dash out of the trap door. The three quickly ran from the trapdoor into the store, trying to look as innocent and shopper-like as possible. They then ran from the store to the Shrieking Shack. Harry and Draco began walking forward, but Hermione stopped them.

"You can't just go waltzing in there!" she screeched.

"You do know it isn't really haunted, right?" asked Draco.

"No, I don't mean that. It's off limits and plus, there are Surveillance Charms everywhere. If you walk through the front door an invisible eye will set off an alarm," Hermione explained.

"But only if they see us, right?" hinted Harry. He quickly ran into a dark alley. Hermione, knowing exactly what he was talking about, was right behind him.

"What are you doing?" Draco hissed. He rolled his eyes and began running after them. But when he got to the alley, no one was to be found. "Where are you?"

Suddenly, a hand reached out of nowhere and grabbed his collar, dragging him forward. "Shh!!!" Harry commanded, holding the Invisibility Cloak over their heads.

"Where did you get this from?" Draco demanded.

"It's was my dad's, now shut up before people start wondering if they are schizophrenic," Harry snapped, trying to walk through the busy crowds. The three walked up to the door, hoping the plan would work. Harry cautiously opened the door, bracing himself for some kind of loud shriek or been of an alarm. Nothing happened.

They stepped in. When they were a good 3 meters in, Hermione said, "I think it's safe to take the cloak off now." She was feeling quite uncomfortable standing next to Draco.

"So where do we go from here, O carrier of the book?" asked Draco as the cloak came down.

"Good question," replied Hermione, pulling out her wand. She then pointed it at Harry.

"What are you doing??" he gasped.

"Relax, I'm only putting a Reveling Charm on your glasses. Revelarem," she hissed. A small violet light shot out of her wand into Harry's glasses. "There, you should be able to see through trick walls and fake doors now."

"Um… that's not all I can do…" Harry replied nervously, turning from Hermione.

"It's 'Revalerum', genius," Draco corrected, "You put an X-Ray in his glasses."

"Whatever!" Harry snapped. "Hermione, what am I looking for?"

"Just a simple hidden passage behind a wall or a portrait or even the fire place," Hermione answered.

"What specifically…" Harry continued.

"Why?" Draco and Hermione chimed.

"Because there are three, but you can forget one of them," Harry replied. "One looks like a musty cave and one looks like a stone dungeon."

"What happened to the third one?" asked Hermione.

"Its part of the Astronomy Tower apparently…" Harry replied curtly.

"Let me see those," Draco snapped, snatching the glasses from Harry. He looked and replied shortly, "Oh my." He quickly returned the glasses to Harry.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing," both Draco and Harry replied.

"So choose, entrance one or two," Harry told Hermione.

Hermione thought a minute. "You said one of them looked like a musty cave? Does it have roots hanging around it, lots of dirt, too?" she inquired thoughtfully. Harry nodded. "We take number two then. The other route must be the one under the Whomping Willow," she reminded Harry.

"The question is how do we get in?" Draco thought as Hermione removed the spell from Harry's glasses.

"There must be some sort of trigger or knob," Harry said, touching the walls in search for some sort of secret door.

"Maybe it's in one of these books," Hermione suggested, walking towards a dusty bookshelf.

"Trust Hermione to check the library," Harry muttered. However, when Hermione pulled out a book, a rug pulled out from underneath her. She dropped into a chute before she could even react.

"Hermione!" Harry cried out, looking down the chute.

"I'm ok!" she cried. "I think I found the entrance!"

Harry looked to Draco, but he only pointed to the chute and said, "Age before beauty."

"But you're older than me," Harry replied.

Draco grumbled. "I was hoping you wouldn't remember." He quickly hopped down the hole, Harry following shortly after.

"Well, we're here now, but what do we do?" inquired Harry.

"We meet three challenges," answered Hermione. "One to test our senses, our trust, and our fears." She began walking down the stone hall with care. The two boys trailed closely. All three of them looked at the hideous architecture, noting that crushed bones were in the clay. They quietly tried to ignore the bones for the next ten minutes.

"You ever notice how it's always three challenges? It can't be one or two, it just has to be three," Draco noticed, obviously trying to break the tense silence.

"Maybe you should complain to the Ministry of Magic," Harry replied, trying to carry on something remotely like a normal conversation.

"Don't you two ever listen in class?" Hermione sighed. "Quests are always based around three because"- she paused. "I think I hear something!" she whispered. A low rumbling sound grew louder and louder. The three turned around to see a giant boulder rolling their way. Instantly, they began dashing in the opposite direction.

Draco began to slow down. "Wait! Stop!" he cried, but Harry and Hermione kept running.

Harry threw a look over his shoulder to see the boulder right on top of Draco. "It got Malfoy!" he shouted at Hermione.

"No! Stop running! It's just an illusion! One of the challenges!" Draco bellowed, trying to run in front of the image of the boulder.

Harry half heard Draco crying at them and ceased his running. He looked to the boulder, which was only a yard from him now. He stood very still and the rock passed right through him. 

"Hurry, we need to tell Hermione," Draco panted.

"But if it's just an illusion…" Harry began.

"It's only an illusion if you think it is. For those who don't know, it becomes real!" Draco quickly explained, dashing after the "boulder".

Hermione, who still did not realize that this was just a trick, began panicking wildly. Both Harry and Draco had been taken now! Suddenly, she began plummeting downwards, not seeing the great, big cliff she had just stepped off of.

Draco halted at the edge of the cliff, where the boulder dissipated. "Hermione!" he shouted out to her. "Close your eyes! It's just an illusion!!!"

With that in mind, Hermione closed her eyes tightly and muttered, "Just and illusion, not really falling!" The endless pit disappeared and turned into a small flight of stairs. However, Hermione was unable to regain her balance or an upright position and tumbled down the stairs.

Harry and Draco quickly raced down to tend to the fallen comrade. "She's not moving!" Harry gasped as they descended. He shook the inert body. "Herm, get up!"

The girl rolled over and sat up. "I can't move my leg," Hermione gasped. Her leg was not bleeding or misshapen, but it was red and beginning to puff up. "It may be broken or sprained."

"Do you know any spells to fix it?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Not off the top of my head," she answered. "You're going to have to leave me."

"We can't just leave you! What if something comes for you, or whoever took Amy takes you, too?" cried Harry.

Draco thought a minute. "Help me move her to the side of the wall," he ordered. The two dragged her over. "Give her that invisibility cloak." Harry did as he was told. Then Draco pulled out his wand and muttered something as he dragged his wand in a circle around Hermione. "Nothing can come inside the barrier unless you allow it. Now put on the cloak so nothing can see you. We'll be back as soon as possible," Draco told her.

"Be careful!" Hermione said to them, throwing the Invisibility Cloak around her.

***

He snapped his fingers and torches along the walls lit a deep green color. They illuminated the hallway that was covered in traces of silver. Amy trailed silently behind him, without a single question or word. She was obviously under the influence of the powder, or she would have screamed her lungs out with a torrent of rude epithets.

"I admire you," the man said to the vacant girl. "You were the first one to actually threaten me. All the others cowered in fear, whimpering for their parents or for someone to come and save them."

"Yes, my lord," Amy replied dully.

"Under different circumstances I might've made you one of my servants," he mused, "But you are more useful to me like this, and powerful essence will only make me stronger faster."

The two finally made it to the end of the hall where the bed-like thing sat. The cloaked figure grinned slightly. "Welcome to your end."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 


	8. Price of Love

8. The Price of Love 

The two boys raced down the hall. Harry kept throwing wondering looks at Draco, which bothered the blond boy greatly.

"What?" he finally asked.

"You didn't have to do that," Harry replied.

Draco shrugged. "I didn't want your sister to strangle me because I didn't save her friend."

Harry opened his mouth to say more, but he didn't get the chance. Suddenly, he tripped over. "What was that for?" he demanded of Draco angrily.

"Don't blame me for your clumsiness," Draco grunted. 

"We'll walk so you fall no further," he said half-jokingly, half serious. He didn't need both Hermione and Harry terribly injured on this task, no matter how much Draco would have rather worked alone. However, Draco somewhat liked it. For once he was among those he admired.

Harry grumbled, but said no more. Suddenly, his glasses flew from his face and onto the floor. "So now you think it's funny to curse my glasses?" Harry seethed, picking up his spectacles.

"I did no such thing! I wasn't even anywhere near your stupid face!" Draco shot back icily. The two walked on in silence when Draco fell flat on his face. His shoelaces had been tied together. "I already told you, I didn't trip you or curse your glasses!"

Harry, however, was busy. He was trying to ward off a rather large rock that repeatedly hit him in the head. "What, are you trying to take me out so you can save my sister on your own? Maybe quickly get back into her graces?" Harry accused.

"Shut up, ORPHAN!" the other retorted.

"Why should I, Death Eater?"

"That was uncalled for, son of a Mudblood!"

"That's it!" Suddenly Harry was jabbing wildly at Draco's face. Draco defended himself, and then threw Harry down. He looked like he was about to head-butt Harry, but missed.

"I missed purposely," Draco hissed in Harry's ear. "When I call you a smelly hamster, hit me with some sort of spell that will freeze me."

"Why"-

"Just do it!" Draco hissed angrily, pushing himself up. 

"Famous Harry Potter always needs the spotlight! Maybe I want some of the glory this time! So back off, you big smelly hamster!" Draco cried out.

That was the cue. Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at the other boy and cried out, "STUPEFY!" Fast as lightning, Draco went into a backbend. The curse hit something behind him.

"For once in my life, I'm glad you listened to me, Potter," Draco sighed with relief.

Harry looked to the strange thing he hit. "How did you know that there was a hinky punk?"

"After your glasses fell to the floor, I saw the hinky punk's lantern," Draco answered.

"Don't they only lead wanderers in the wrong direction?" inquired Harry.

"I suppose they can give you wrong ideas as well as wrong directions," the other replied. "Two challenges down, only one more to go. Hurry, your sister may have already been taken."

The two raced quickly down the hall once more. Harry felt slightly guilty about what he had said to Draco. Sure they never really got along, but for just this once, shouldn't he have trusted the boy?

"Malfoy," he began, "I'm sorry about what I said with the hinky punk…"

Draco froze to the spot. He turned to Harry and looked him straight in the eye. "Your sister said something very wise to me once, Potter. She told me that you shouldn't apologize until you mean it. You most certainly don't mean it," he told Harry straight. With that he turned around and began walking some more.

Harry looked to the ground, slightly embarrassed. He had only apologized to get it off his conscience. After all was said and done and they got Amy safely back, everything between the two boys would be just the same. He began lagging behind Draco when his knees suddenly collapsed under him.

Draco turned to see Harry leaning slightly against the wall. "What's wrong?"

"It just got really cold in here," Harry whispered, slightly trembling, clinging harder to the wall of stone.

Draco quickly walked over to help Harry when he felt a brush of cold air sweep past his face too. He shivered as he inquired, "Is that Amy?"

Harry shook his head. He said one simple word. "Dementor." Sure enough, creeping through the hall toward them was a dark Dementor, sucking all the emotion from the room. Harry lifted his wand to try and cast it away, but he could already hear his mother's screams.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Draco shouted, throwing his wand hand toward the Dementor. The silver object that shot out of his wand resembled a small boy with a sword. It charged right through Dementor without phasing it.

"Wait a moment," Harry thought. He raised his wand once more and cried, "RIDDIKULUS!" The "Dementor" tripped over his cloak and it fell away to reveal a monkey. The boggart then vanished.

Draco brought Harry to his feet. "Care to share what exactly was your Patronous?" Harry ventured to ask.

"Not really, but I will. Me at age nine with a foil," Draco replied. 

"That's awfully vague," Harry said.

"It is the memory of the first time my father complimented me. I was about 9 when we were fencing. I had somehow won our match when I adverted a head-on attack by falling into a backbend. While his foil was still above me I took the chance to hit him. He almost smiled and called me agile," Draco explained.

"That explains your interesting tactic against the hinky punk," Harry smiled in admiration.

Draco smirked slightly. "We've met all three challenges. We should be nearing the final room soon," he muttered. As they walked, they passed a small dungeon cell. Inside was a young girl.

"Hey, you!" Harry screeched. He tried to shake the bars, but as soon as he laid one finger down, a red-hot searing pain shot up his arm.

"It's not worth it Potter, look," Draco told him. He then pointed to a small silver puddle trickling next to the girl. "We have to hurry before that happens to Amethyst." They hurriedly rushed through the hall until they heard some sort of suppressed scream. Before them was a man clad in a dark robe, leaning over someone else, most likely Amy, silver dripping from his mouth.

"Amy!" Harry cried.

The man swiftly turned around; silver blood dripping from his mouth. "Potter," he hissed.

"Voldemort?" Harry gasped. "I should have known you were behind this! The unicorn's blood should have tipped me off!"

"Yes…" Voldemort chuckled. "The Hall of Essence has served me well. I will be back to full power in no time."

"Let my sister go!" Harry demanded.

"Your sister?" Voldemort repeated. "She is a spunky lass. If her blood weren't so precious to me, I would've turned her into a Death Eater. And so today I will finish off the rest of the Potter line!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Draco cried. "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" he screeched at Voldemort. The spell half worked. The evil wizard's arms and legs were bound, but the rest of his body was still functioning correctly.

"When I get out of this I will destroy both of you!" he cried angrily.

"Watch him," Draco said to Harry. "If this is really Voldemort, it won't last for more than five minutes." He ran to Amy. Silver blood trickled from four spots.

"Amethyst, get up!" he shouted.

"Let my master finish his task," Amy said lifelessly.

Draco looked into her vacant stare. "Imperious curse!" he realized. "Amethyst, snap out of it, you stupid prat! Looks like you're going soft, I don't think you ever let people curse you before!"

Inside Amethyst's head the word "love" still reverberated. It was growing louder and louder now that Draco was there. Suddenly the curse seemed to crack and disappear. "Draco?" she asked, blinking to get sense of everything again.

"Draco! Hurry up! He can move his finger!" Harry cried.

Draco nodded. He began tugging at the bondages, but they would not budge. Suddenly, he took a very good look at them. The ropes were green and scaly. In fact, they weren't even ropes. They were snakes!

"Harry, say something in Parselmouth!" Draco ordered.

"Like what???" Harry squeaked as Voldemort began moving three fingers on each hand.

"ANYTHING!!! Say 'let go!' for all I care!" Draco bellowed. Harry hissed something and soon the snakes retreated back into the basins. Draco then tried to help Amy up, but she desisted.

"Wait, wait, wait!" she shrieked.

"Right," Draco remembered. He pulled the gloves from his pockets and then carefully touched her arm. Nothing happened. Quickly, he sat her at the edge of the bed. "We need to get rid of these basins so neither Voldemort nor anyone else can use them again." Draco began pushing over one of the basins when Voldemort cried out.

"Don't do it!" he bellowed, freeing one arm.

"Give me one good reason not too!" Draco shot back.

"She will die if you do!" Voldemort said, his lip curling into a malevolent smile.

"She's bleeding, of course she's going to die," Harry muttered.

"That's where you are wrong, boy," laughed Voldemort. "If the basins are still in existence, her blood will remain that way and she can live unless someone allows the rest of those Unicorn Blood wells to bleed freely. However, if you destroy the basins, her blood will revert and she will bleed to death. Your choice," Voldemort laughed evilly.

Both Harry and Draco exchanged glances. If they destroyed the basins now, Amy might not make it back to the surface. If they left the basins alone, she would at least make it back to school and maybe they could do something there, but they ran the risk of Voldemort taking more victims.

It was Amy herself who answered. "I would rather bleed neon purple than know that I was helping you," she seethed, kicking over the basin closest to her. Instantly, the silver became slightly darker and trickled out faster.

Draco was worried, but Amethyst was right. They could not be responsible for the deaths of others. He tried to push over another basin, but it would not budge. "Looks like unicorn's blood makes you physically stronger as well," he mused. He pulled out a wand and muttered, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The basin rose high up into the air. He then released and the basin came down with a crash. Both he and Harry repeated the charm with the next two basins.

Suddenly, Voldemort broke free of the body-lock. He snatched Harry's wand and shoved the boy into a wall. "I'll deal with you in a minute, but let me practice on your friend first!" he growled. He then turned the wand on Draco and cried "CRUCIO!" Draco was on the floor, writhing in pain. "Son of Lucius Malfoy, aren't you?" Voldemort realized. "You could have been immortal and drunk the blood of unicorns with me!" he cried, advancing on Draco. "You chose the wrong side to be on today, and death is the high price you pay for love. AVADA KED"-

"NO!!!" Amy shrieked. With the last bit of strength from the tiny bit of unicorn blood still coursing through her veins, she picked up the last basin and brought it crashing down on Voldemort's head.

"My sister is suddenly Wonder Woman," Harry said jokingly.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Temporary. It's now gone, like the last basin," she said. She knelt by Draco and tried to help him up without touching his skin. "Are you ok?"

"Should I be the one to ask?" Draco questioned, looked at the rivers of blood.

"I'll be fine," she smiled.

Draco took off his robes. "Wear this, we can't have you dying of hypothermia, and it may help to stop the bleeding." 

"We'd best get out of here before he wakes up," Harry said, pointing to the unconscious Voldemort.

"That's not all we're going to have to worry about," Amy said. Snakes appeared from the broken basins. At first, the three thought that the snakes would attack them, but instead the reptiles buried themselves into the stone. Suddenly, the hall began shaking violently. The hall was destroying itself!

"Hurry, we have to get out!" Draco cried. The three began sprinting in the opposite direction.

"Harry, Malfoy? What's taking you so long?" Hermione whispered to herself. Suddenly she felt the strange quakes as rocks began falling from the ceiling and the walls. She shrieked as one fell right above her, but the barrier made sure it bounced harmlessly to the side.

Harry, Amy, and Draco dashed down the hall, avoiding the debris falling all around them. Amy, unfortunately, was beginning to slow down.

"It hurts too much to go on," she panted. Sure enough, the set of robes was soaking in blood along her neck and shoulder line. "You're going to have to leave me."

Without hesitation, Harry picked her up and started carrying her the rest of the way. "Forget, I'm not leaving you anywhere. Besides, you are light as a feather."

Amy smiled, but her vision was going slightly blurry and she was loosing some sensation in her left arm. Draco threw off one of his gloves and quickly poked her. A little shock went through her body, jolting her awake. "C'mon, don't go unconscious on us," he told her.

Hermione soon spotted Harry coming along. She threw off the Invisibility Cloak. She then took a look at Amy and gasped, "What happened?"

"We'll tell you later," Harry replied. "Right now we'd best leave."

"Finite Incantum," Draco muttered. The barrier around Hermione disappeared.

Harry suddenly realized that Hermione wasn't going to be able to run. He looked to Draco, who began to bend down. Hermione looked very uncomfortable with the idea, but decided not to complain.

"Um… maybe you should hold Amy," Harry suggested. Draco pulled the glove back on and gladly accepted. Harry then picked up Hermione as they ran up the stairs.

Amy was beginning to lose the ability to recognize light. If she did this, it would have to be now, for she might not get a chance later. "Draco," she whispered. Draco did not answer, but he nodded to let her know he was listening. "The only reason the basins are allowed to have an affect on a person is if they've been affected by love." Draco gulped, seeing where this was going. "Do you love me, Draco Malfoy?" she asked.

"Now may not be the best time to talk about this," Draco muttered, narrowly missing a giant falling rock.

"Tell me or I'll jump out of your arms and bury myself in the falling stones," Amy demanded.

Draco was certain she was serious. He looked down at her and answered. "Amethyst, you are the only person I have ever loved and may it remain that way until I depart from this world."

Amy nodded. "Then I die happy, because I am in your arms," she whispered. Her head slowly fell back as her eyes shut.

"Amethyst?" Draco asked. "Amethyst! Harry! She's not breathing!" Draco shouted at Harry. "Amethyst, please don't leave me…"

***

A small gravestone lay on a hill covered in a thin blanket of snow. Draco Malfoy silently walked up to it and placed a white rose in front of it. He then stood up looking up towards the sky as small flakes of snow gently fell to the earth.

In the distance a young girl watched him. Amy looked to him place the rose down and smile. She turned away to keep from crying. Suddenly two people appeared in front of her, a woman and a man. The man looked exceedingly like Harry while the woman had beautiful green eyes.

"Mom? Dad?" Amy asked.

They nodded. "Amethyst, dear, it's not your time to join us," Lily smiled.

***

"Ah!" Amy suddenly gasped, jerking awake. Her shoulder hurt like mad, but at least she could still feel it. She looked and saw that it had been stitched shut. "Where am I?" she asked groggily.

"Home," a voice answered. A woman sat by her side, gently stroking her hand.

"Mom?" Amy asked, waiting for her blurry vision to clear. Christine Labadie sat in a chair by her daughter's bed.

"How are you doing, kiddo?" her father asked.

Amy suddenly sat straight up in bed. "Where's Harry? And Hermione? And"- she was about to say Draco, but bit her lip when she realized her parents had not been informed of him yet.

"Harry and Hermione are at Hogwarts, most likely in the Hospital Wing. I think Draco might be as well," her mom replied with a small grin.

Amy gulped. "You know about Draco?" she asked.

Her parents nodded. "We know the WHOLE story," they replied.

"Am I in trouble?" she ventured further.

"Well… we would prefer it if you were never found in bed with a boy again until you are married, but Headmaster Dumbledore told us that nothing happened," her father answered.

"And Vo... You-Know-Who, what happened to him and the Hall?" Amy questioned.

"The Hall of Essence collapsed thanks to you and your friends. You-Know-Who, however, has not been found."

Amy settled back, feeling as though a great burden had been lifted from her chest. Her parents got up. "Well, we'll leave you alone for now to get comfortable. Take it easy, you have all Christmas vacation to recuperate, and a little after that, too."

"A little after that? Don't I have to leave early so I can get back to London in time?" Amethyst asked. Both her parents froze and made a face like they had let something slip. "What…" she asked.

"Honey, you won't be going back to Hogwarts this year…" her mother said gently.

"What? No!" Amy began to protest. "I know I made a really big screw up, but has nothing to do with the school and"-

"Calm down. We weren't the ones that made the decision. Headmaster Dumbledore felt that it would be best if you didn't go back until everything was sorted out. He felt very responsible for what had happened," Mr. Labadie explained. "After vacation you'll be going back to your normal school for the rest of the term."

"So… I won't see anyone from Hogwarts ever again…" Amy pieced together.

"Well, Harry is coming to visit for the summer, and you can always write to your friends, but other than that… probably not," Mrs. Labadie answered. She looked to her husband. "We'll leave you alone for now."

After her parents left, Amy finished the rest of her thought. "So… I won't see Draco ever again…"

***

Draco sat outside in the field, allowing his owl to stretch her wings. Only a week or two ago he had been out her, showing Amethyst how to transform. He sighed and fell back into the snow.

"Making snow angels?" asked a voice.

Draco sat up and looked to his left. Harry walked slowly towards him. "What do you want, Potter," he asked with a bored voice.

"Back in the hall, the boggart took form of a Dementor. It was closer to you, though, so why did it take the form of my fear?" Harry asked.

"Because what I fear most is too complicated for a boggart to mock," Draco answered.

"What do you fear, Malfoy," Harry queried in a fragile voice.

Draco watched his breath turn smoky white as he let out a long sigh. "Loneliness," he whispered. "Having no one to turn to when you have a problem or something to brag or someone to admire or even to share a bit of gossip with. I fear the end of my days as an old man with not the slightest bit of emotion in his old brittle bones."

"Then why didn't the boggart just turn into an old and grumpy version of you?" Harry inquired, partially joking.

Draco snorted. "Some old fart isn't going to scare me. Besides, while your sister was still in existence, that fear evaporated. At that point the only thing I feared was arriving too late."

Harry knelt before Draco and searched his face for the slightest bit of a lie. When he didn't find it he muttered two words. "Kiss me."

"What?" Draco could only say.

"Amy is my sister. She is my twin. We look exactly alike," said Harry. "Well... ok, she's more feminine, but you get the picture."

"Potter, I have no clue where you are going with this," Draco said flatly.

"It might remotely feel like you are kissing Amy," Harry explained.

"Potter, you are more shallow than I thought if you think I would kiss you just because you look like Amethyst. I almost DIDN'T kiss her because she looks like you," Draco informed Harry. "I love her for a lot more than that. Now if you excuse me, I have to finish packing." 

Draco got up and left. "I love her for a lot more than that," he whispered.

***

A few days later, Amy finished dinner and walked back to her room. Wraith was waiting by the windowsill. She quickly opened the window and let her in. In Wraith's beak was a lumpy note. It did not say whom from, so Amy was slightly hesitant to open it. When she did she nearly cried. It was from Draco.

_Dear Amethyst, _

_ I am glad that you are fine. When you passed out I almost screamed in pain. I suppose you'd like to know what happened after that. We made it back into Hogsmeade just before the Hall completely collapsed. I laid you down in the street and threw off my gloves and tried to shock you, but it didn't work. Someone ran to the castle to get help. A vampire tried to come near you, but Hermione started cursing him. Dumbledore got there as fast as he could. He said some kind of spell that apparently kept you from bleeding more. Half the students were at the entrance to the castle when we got there. Neville fainted from seeing the blood. You and Hermione were taken to the Hospital Wing, but Hermione came out 15 minutes later. She luckily only slightly fractured her leg. You, on the other hand, were in there for an hour. _

_Dumbledore later gave us both the antidote for the Electric Elixir. Apparently you were a good influence on me and such influences should be allowed to continue, in Dumbledore's words. I however, have not been such a good influence on you. This is all my doing. Your life never would have been at stake if I had never cursed you with a beard. We are worlds apart, and though it pains me to say so, it must stay this way. _

_The brooch I have given you is a symbol of us. _ (Amy looked into the envelope and found a small amulet.) _The violet stones are amethyst, as you probably well should know. The red rubies stand for love and hate. But the center describes everything best: A white rose, God's most ironic creation, like our love for each other. For white stands for serenity while the rose is a symbol of lovers, and love being the most complicated thing of all time. Do what you will with it. You may keep it as a small memory, or forsake it and with it forsake what happened between us. But remember this, whatever you may choose I will never forget you. _

_ Draco Malfoy_

The words repeated themselves one more time in Amy's head, "I won't see Draco ever again. I will never forget you." Somehow, with great ease, she had lost the first and only person she had ever loved.

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	9. Lovers' Reunion

9. Lover's Reunion 

_10 Years later… _

The doctor pulled out a clipboard from out of the top desk drawer. Five minutes before her session would begin, the patient seemed to always arrive a little bit early. She did not mind. There was not much else for her to do. He was her first patient in about a month.

At the top of the paper attached to the clipboard were the doctor's curvy handwritten letters reading "Session number thirteen. Patient is showing more improvement, as well as more openness and trust." She began to write, "Taking careful measures not to"- when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she said firmly.

The oak door slowly swung open. A pale young man, age 20+Ø, walked cautiously, but comfortably into the room. He brushed a few long, blond bangs from his eyes as he looked to the doctor.

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy, how are you doing today?" the doctor asked him.

"Fine, Dr. Smith, you?" Draco answered.

"I'm good," she answered. "Have a seat," she told him, pointing to a mauve lounge chair. She sat behind her own desk as though it were a bit like her shield to reality. "Please continue our conversation from the other day. I believe we were on the subject of this Hall of Essence."

"Right, right. I was finishing up when we got out of the Hall. Harry's shoulder hurt like hell, and I can only guess because of Amethyst. He and Hermione both ignored their pain, though, to see to Amethyst. By this time she had already lost maybe a pint of blood, it was literally leaking everywhere. Luckily, Professor Dumbledore came just in time and whisked us all back to the castle. Half the students were gawking at us in their pajamas. Weas"- Draco paused and looked at the doctor, who shook her head.

"Mr. Malfoy, remember what I said about using last names in hatred," she scolded.

"Ron," Draco corrected himself as he went on, "was there as well, very anxious to see what had happened. I'm surprised he didn't start pounding me right then in there. Maybe he was too stunned and worried to do anything. We got up to the Hospital Wing. Harry and I wanted to go, but Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let us. I watched her go through those doors, rosy red blood dripping from my cloak hanging loosely around her shoulders. It was the last time I ever saw her."

His psychiatrist looked slightly sympathetic at this. The look soon passed as she asked, "But you did see her brother, Harry, am I correct?"

"Yes," Draco replied, "But it was definitely not the same. Obviously there were subtle differences between the two, but more than that, there was a certain air around Amethyst I could find in no one else."

"Really…" Dr. Smith muttered, mildly interested.

"I sent her a brooch, but she never even touched it. She probably destroyed the letter I sent as well," Draco continued.

"What makes you think that?" the doctor asked.

"I put a spell on it," Draco explained, "It was a Portkey, a sort magical object that when someone touches it, they are brought to a different place." He looked at the doctor. She was playing with something in her pocket. "You don't believe me."

For a second time she asked him, "What makes you think that?"

"You don't believe in magic, so you think I'm crazy," Draco answered coolly.

The doctor got up from behind the desk and walked over to the mauve chair. She sat down on the opposite end. "You underestimate me. I believe in all sorts of magic. For example," she picked up a pencil and dropped it to the floor, "Gravity. That is magic."

Draco snorted. "It's a law of physics."

"Yes, yet birds have the ability to defy it without great big jets. Therefore, I find that to be magical," the doctor smiled. "So does that make me crazy, or just pensive? In a way, we are all a bit daft. Then again, if you weren't crazy, would you be here? It is all in the head, my friend."

Draco gave a small half-smile. He relaxed and sunk back into the chair. "You remind me a little of her…" he told the doctor.

"How so?" she inquired.

"Little things," he responded slowly. "Your hair for one, but mostly the way you speak. You both have this interesting way of bending the conversation to your will, and yet somehow all the facts stay absolutely intact. That I find absolutely fascinating. I've met few who could do that."

"Just that one characteristic reminds you of her?" the doctor queried. She found herself slightly edging over to the other side of the couch.

"Well, I suppose you both have green eyes, sort of powerful ones," he added. He moved slightly as well. "And you both make me want to question my myself and my judgment, the things I think altogether."

"What exactly are you thinking about, Mr. Malfoy?" she inquired. They both advanced slightly.

"I'm… actually wondering if you kiss as well as her," he replied carefully. He laughed. Dr. Smith laughed a bit as well. When it died down they looked at each other in unending silence.

Suddenly the intercom on the desk buzzed loudly. "Dr. Smith, your brother is on line one, it's a girl!"

The doctor got up. "I should take this call," she said, "It shouldn't take too long." With that she left the room.

***

Soon after, the doctor came back. They moved on to a different subject. After about 45 minutes of that, the session ended. Draco left the office. Dr. Smith sank back into her chair and heaved a long sigh. "Cynthia, do I have any appointments for this afternoon?" she asked into the intercom.

"Only a short seminar at the high school," Cynthia answered.

"Is it mandatory?" the doctor inquired.

"No."

Cynthia looked up and saw Dr. Smith leaving her office. "I'm taking the rest of the day off. You and Bill can take it from here, right?" Bill was the other psychiatrist on the other side of the hall.

"No problem, A.S," Cynthia answered.

"Don't call me that."

She walked aimlessly around the busy streets of town. "I was so unorthodox in there today. How could I have let that happen? Next time I have to just buckle down, I can't let anything loose," she scolded herself.

Draco looked to the clock tower. The bus was 7 minutes late. He sat on the bench and leaned his head back all the way. He had just told his psychiatrist that he wanted to know how well she kissed. What was his big-as-Hades problem? His head rolled to the side.

Suddenly he sat up. At the other side and the other end of the street was Dr. Smith. He smirked. She was with another man. Her boyfriend, fiancé, husband maybe. No. Something was wrong with this picture. Draco looked closer. It seemed like she was trying to avoid him. Draco got up and began walking that way. Suddenly the man shoved her into an alley. Draco began running.

"Alright, sweetie, give me your purse," the man demanded.

"I don't have any cash with me," she replied calmly.

"Well then, maybe there's something else you can give me," he smiled. He put his hands on her shoulders and began to lean in. Seeing where this was going, Dr. Smith rammed her head into his and stepped on his foot. She tried to run away, but the mugger grabbed her and swung her around. Suddenly there was a gun pressed up against her lips.

"Kiss this, sweetie," he grinned. He noticed her fumbling with her coat pocket. "What's that in your pocket? Bring it out- slowly. Don't try anything funny."

"Is there a problem here?" Draco asked, walking into the alley.

"None at all. This lady here was just going to give me that nice piece of jewelry in her hand, weren't you? Now back off, you don't want anyone hurt, do you?" said the mug.

Suddenly, the man grabbed his face. Dr. Smith ran something sharp against his face, probably the piece of jewelry. He was about to shoot off the gun when Draco cried something unintelligible, causing the gun to fly out of his hand.

"Are you ok, doctor?" he asked, running over to her.

"Yes, I'm fine. What are you doing here?" she squeaked.

"I could ask the same of you, but that later. What did you do to him?" he began to ask. She didn't have time to answer. A gun went off, forcing Draco a step forward.

Before he could collapse, Dr. Smith caught him and felt his back. A bullet ran through his shoulder. She grabbed his wand and pointed it at the mugger and yelled, "Stupefy!" The mugger fell flat on his face. She stepped out of the alleyway, screaming "Somebody please help me!" Quickly, someone ran to a payphone to call 911. Soon enough the paramedics and the police came. "Hold on, Draco," she whispered.

***

Draco opened his eyes slowly. There was a room entirely of white and a pale, yet radiant face hanging above him. "Am I in heaven? I always though I'd be in the other place…"

The face above him smiled. "No… it's definitely not heaven, or the other place for that matter." Draco could see clearly now. It was Dr. Smith. "This is the county hospital, so you aren't dead."

Draco sat straight up. Heaven or not, she still looked like an angel. "What exactly happened?"

The smile vanished. She buried her face in her hand. "I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. I provoked him and you took the shot I should have received."

"No, it's ok. Chances are he would've shot either way," he tried to console. "But that's not really what I meant. How did you prevent him from shooting again?" She froze slightly. "Dr. Smith… what did you scratch him with."

She bit her lip, trying to avoid eye contact with him. Finally, she drew a small piece of jewelry from her pocket. It was a small brooch. "I flipped out the pin and scratched him with it," she tried to smile as she handed it to him. She still avoided eye contact.

"But… but this is…" Draco realized. "So it's my turn to sit in a hospital bed because of you. And now you are handing me the white rose, Amethyst." She got up and began to leave. "But there's one small difference. This time I'm not going to hold any of my feelings back. I won't loose you a second time," he declared.

Amy turned around. She ran back to his bed and held him tightly. "I've missed you so much."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Draco wondered.

"I am your psychiatrist, I wasn't about to rush back to you and declare I still loved you. You were coming to me for a problem, and that would be all, especially after the letter you sent me, saying we could never be together," she explained.

"And still you kept the brooch. After 10 years you still haven't changed," he smiled.

"After 10 years, you still conquer my heart."

"You got married," Draco recalled. "Or did you legally change your name for fun?"

"I tried to move on. But don't be jealous, I'm a widow. The marriage lasted two days and then Voldemort took him," Amy replied. "Does it feel like we're moving?" she asked suddenly.

"A bit like we are flying?" Draco asked.

Amy then remembered that their hands were wrapped around the brooch. "The brooch! You terrible wizard! You made a duo Portkey! We both had to be touching it! That's why we it never worked!"

They landed in a room that seemed to have no ceiling. Sunlight poured in to reveal a great area, a bit like a garden. The walls were covered in millions of vines and white roses. It looked like a hedge maze almost.

"Where are we?" Amethyst asked.

"Every great evil should have an antithesis. This is the Hall of Essence's opposite," Draco replied. "Come on, I'll race you to the end." He began running through the maze, which was actually just spiraling, not really maze.

Amy watched him and realized that he was wearing a pair of school robes. She looked at herself and found she was wearing a pair as well. "No fair! Head start!" she called out, running after him. Suddenly she could be 1+Ø again.

She raced on when out of nowhere Draco jumped out at her. He grabbed her shoulders and fell backwards onto a bed surrounded by lilacs, roses, and daisies. They both laughed like school children. Slowly the giggles died down. Draco reached a hand up and stroked Amethyst's cheek. She leaned downwards until their noses met.

"You said I make you think about your judgment. What is it telling you now?" she asked.

"It still wonders if Dr. Smith kisses as well as you," he answered. He lifted his head up until he could feel her lips pressed against his own. He then began removing her robe. His hands then traveled up her back to remove the sweater vest.

"Draco… are you sure this is what you want?" she asked between kisses.

"Every time you ask that, I always tell you that I've never been more sure," he answered. "This time, I just want to make one small adjustment." He grabbed her waist and rolled over. "I'm on top," he grinned, shirking his robe.

***

"Won't they wonder where you are? Back at the hospital, I mean," Amy asked, lying next to Draco.

"Time here stops. When we get back, it'll be like we never left," he answered. "Which is good, for I could spend an eternity here with you."

Amy moved closer to Draco. "So are you planning to ever tell me why you are in a Muggle town in Louisiana?" she asked.

"I left Malfoy Manor about six years ago. Everything was a mess. We were loosing money. My father got drunk very frequently. Even my mother wanted to leave. One day I found an ad in the Daily Prophet for potions teacher. The position also required I not be too conspicuous," Draco explained. "I also came for a second reason. Harry once mentioned that you lived around New Orleans, so I tested my luck. It worked, so I'm going to test my luck once more." He rolled and looked at her. "Will you marry me?"

Amethyst was a bit stunned for a moment. "Do you have a ring for me?" she smiled.

Draco rolled out of the bed and searched his pockets. Amy sat up and giggled, watching him search frantically. "I was only kidding you know," she told him.

"I know, but I refuse to do this unless it is remotely official," he said over his shoulder. "Ah well, this'll have to do." He plucked a daisy and began to twist it. He then turned to her and knelt on one knee. "Amethyst, will you marry me?"

Amy looked at him, speechless. Draco was proposing to her. No. Draco was proposing to her, NUDE. What else was she going to say? "Yes, of course!!!" she cried happily. Right then and there, every moment of despair and pain from their Ø year disappeared forever as the two looked forward to spending the rest of their lives together.

ó 

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End file.
